Ranma Sitri
by HistorianoftheKais
Summary: Being the son of Genma Saotome is hard enough, but throw in the Devil herself as your mother and you have Ranma Sitri's headache. How is a half human, half devil supposed to become the greatest martial artist in the universe with a family like his?
1. Chapter 1

Serafall Leviathan had an uncharacteristically serious look on her face as she sat in her office in a surprisingly prim outfit. The Magical Girl Levi-tan guise she so loved was pushed aside in favor of Serafall Leviathan the Mother. Being a mother wasn't something that Serafall had honestly expected to happen for centuries. She still had little So-tan to look after like a good big sister. She was also still very young by devil standards and unmarried. Being a single mother wasn't that big of a shocker for a devil, even for one in the limelight and high ranking like herself. The usual reaction devils had to the announcement that some high ranking unmarried lady devil getting pregnant was 'looks like she had a good time'.

However, the birth of Serafall's son 15 years ago had caused a massive uproar that was still the talk among noble circles. Normally, such uproar over a pregnancy would occur if a devil was an adulteress and the child was the result of infidelity. That wasn't the case for Serafall. Her betrothed had died centuries ago in the Great War and no one wanted to make marriage arrangements then because devils were dropping like flies. Immediately after the Great War there was the Devil Civil War which resulted in Serafall becoming the new Leviathan. Who Serafall married was completely up to her as the Leviathan and she had never bothered to arrange another marriage contract for herself. Sirzechs-chan was honestly the only being that could potentially be fit to be her husband. That wasn't going to happen as Serafall had zero desire to play second string to Grayfia.

The uproar over Serafall's child was because he was half human. His father was a human, not a reincarnated devil, but a human. Her one night stand partner wasn't a pure human only by the merest of technicalities; a distant ancestor from the Sengoku-Jidai was a hanyo who sealed her yokai blood away to trap an enemy. Getting utterly drunk at a seedy human bar to blow off some steam because her parents had been nagging at her to get a husband was not the smartest idea she ever had. Bad news was that she ended up sleeping with a rather pudgy martial artist. Even worse news, at least to some devils, was the fact that she got pregnant.

However, the good news as far as Serafall was concerned was that she had her adorable son Ranma. Her son was the only being more precious to Serafall than her sister Sona. Serafall had originally wanted to give Ranma the last name of Leviathan since he was her son and that was her clan name ever since she had been made into the Leviathan. The outrage some elders felt in the Conclave of Pillars over the idea of a mere half breed having the name of one of Four Satans was legendary. It resulted in a law being passed that caused any child of any elected Satan to revert to the Satan's former clan. Serafall's parents were actually happy that their grandson was a member of the Sitri Clan.

Serafall herself didn't really care that her son was Ranma Sitri instead of Ranma Leviathan. The complaints over the issue allowed her and Sirzechs-chan to erode many pillars of the Aristocratic Faction's power within the Conclave of Pillars without them ever realizing it. Besides, Ranma rarely used his real name and mostly referred to himself as Ranma Saotome when he was among mortals. It was irritating for Serafall that Ranma preferred to spend his time up on Earth instead of down in the Underworld. Why did the people she was most concerned about keeping safe insist on constantly risking their necks?

At least Son-tan stayed put and had a good collection of servants in her peerage. She and Sirzechs-chan had been able to ward Kuoh to the point that most possible threats would take one look at the town and say not worth the hassle. Ranma kept on moving from town to town with his father like some sort of vagrant as he learned martial arts. There was also the fact that Ranma had a knack for finding trouble or was it that trouble had a knack for finding him? Bless it, last time she tried to have one of her friends watch Ranma for a day he ended up getting mixed up in state secrets!

What made things even more nerve-wracking for Serafall was the fact that Ranma only had a single servant in his peerage and a pawn at that! At least Genma wasn't the pawn. Thank the Abyss for small blessings. It wasn't anything personal against Genma. He was a decent enough man. She just didn't want to have to put up with him for the next couple thousand years.

Now, Ryu Kumon was a good lad and he was a marvelous fighter. As a sparring partner and companion for Ranma the boy was almost perfect. His drive to master the martial arts was only a step behind Ranma's own almost unreal drive. Thanks to years of training Ryu's power was far beyond what most pawns and even a fair number of high ranked pieces. It's just that Serafall wanted Ranma to have more protection.

Serafall sighed as she looked at the folder on her desk giving an initial recon on the town Ranma was currently in. Was it really too much to ask for her son to listen to her for a change? As soon as Serafall had that thought she got the distinct feeling that her parents were laughing at her.

* * *

While Serafall was reviewing her son's new town, Ranma and Ryu were given a rather abrupt and unpleasant wakeup. "Burn in Hell Pops/Saotome, which church did you steal the holy water from?!" Both teenage devils screamed out in furry and pain as they felt the burning effects of holy water on their skin.

Genma looked down on the futons were his two idiot students were sleeping with a frown on his face and an empty buck in his hand. "You two are wasting predawn cover! Now I want both of you up on the roof in five minutes to get your flight drills in before it gets too bright. You two are the ones who forgot to set your alarms. No pain no, gain remember? Now move it before I break out the crosses!" Genma watched on as his son and his other student scrambled to get changed so they could head to the roof. The older Saotome followed the duo to make sure that they headed up to the roof of the new apartment complex like he told them.

The boys made it onto the roof and launched themselves into the air with a few seconds to spare. Genma watched to duo like a hawk looking for the slightest flaw in Ranma and Ryu's aerial manures while they practiced speed and turning techniques. Both boys needed the be pushed to their limits if they were going to take the Saotome Anything Goes School he had created and transform it into the Infernal Anything Goes School.

Both boys also had destines that required them to be the best. Ranma had been marked at birth to take the Master's place as the Grandmaster of Anything Goes. Genma had tried to defeat the Master in combat before he and Soun resorted to trickery. He had come far closer than Soun so it would make sense that his own heir would beat the master. Besides, Ranma had an ace in the hole compared to Genma for that future battle. Whatever dark powers the Master had aligned himself with would stand no chance against having the blood of Satan herself flowing through one's veins.

As for Ryu, Genma could see a grand destiny for the orphan he had taken in after Ryu's father had killed himself trying to master the Yamasenken in an idiotic manner. Ryu would be one of the future masters of Anything Goes under Ranma. He'd be second only to Ranma in the future since he had been trained by Genma. He and Ranma were also going to be lifelong friends much like Genma and Soun were.

This wasn't exactly how Genma had imagined his life going all those years ago when he was younger. He had been in an engagement arraigned by his parents when he was a teenager. However, nothing came of that because his fiancée Nodoka had died in a car accident shortly after his parents died. Only Soun and the Art helped him pull through that dark time. Dating never seemed important to Genma so for years he expected to become a martial arts sage. He and Soun had even talked about him taking on Soun's second son as a student during Soun's bachelor party.

Then came that fateful night alone at the bar where he met Serafall. Genma's shock at waking up naked in bed with an unearthly beautiful and equally naked young woman was topped only by when he found out Serafall was pregnant and one of the Satans of Hell. Finding out that the supernatural existed and that he was going to be a father all at once would shock anyone. Ranma's birth was what had driven Genma to get rid of the Master. Genma hadn't wanted to subject Ranma to the Master when his son got older. Part of Genma was still mystified why Soun hadn't asked him for help in getting rid of the Master years prior to that since Soun's wife was pregnant at that point with their third daughter.

Genma snapped out of his half musing about the past as the sun started to rise. He bellowed out, "Get down here now boys and give me 60!" The boys gracefully and lightly landed on the roof, caught the training weights tossed at them, put the weights on, and proceeded to exercise on the roof. Genma also joined in wearing his one weights as he designed the aerobic workout regime to keep everyone's conditioning up on "light" days. Most people would assume that Genma meant 60 repetitions whatever exercise he was telling the boys to do. Fact was Genma meant 60 minutes of constant exercise at a constant tempo.

Ranma and Ryu were hustled off to the shower after their morning exercise while Genma headed to the kitchen to prep some breakfast pastries for everyone. The boys had just enough time to eat their breakfast and grab their book bags before they headed off to their new school. Genma took a brief shower after his breakfast and headed off to work at a local construction site. The Sitri Clan had established a bank account to take care of Ranma and his peerage, but Genma didn't want to touch that money. Part of Genma wanted to use the money since it would make things much easier for him. However, it seemed to Genma that using literal money from hell in the living world just screamed I want bad luck. You can't enjoy being lazy if you're plagued by bad luck.

* * *

"Man Ranma, Sensei needs to learn what a light exercise is. Doesn't he know how much holy water takes out of us and then he throws those exercises on us. That's not counting the fact that both of us were up until midnight fulfilling contracts for clients." Ryu groused as he walked behind Ranma on a chain linked fence carrying his weighted backpack.

Ranma quickly shot back, "He knows. Remember a couple of years ago when we caught him diluting the holy water with tap water?"

"Yes."

"Well unfortunately for us, Pop's crazy resistance training has paid off. We're getting it straight from the baptismal pool. Judging from the strength, I'd say the water was blessed by either a believing bishop or a fanatical priest."

"I don't know whether to be thankful or curse that fact Ranma."

"I'll let you know when I figure out how I feel about that fact Ryu."

The devil duo walked the rest of the way to school in silence. They then went through the very familiar routine of having themselves introduced to the class as the new students. Both devils took their seats at the back of the classroom allowing them to look for potential clients. They also made sure to pay attention to the teacher and what he was covering in class. Serafall had been completely clear to both boys that they both would be restricted to the Sitri mansion if either of their grades fell below a B.

Both boys had earmarked several dozen new potential customers by the time lunch rolled around. Lunchtime came with a surprise when they observed the lunch ladies throwing the last servings of bread into a crowd of boys. Ranma thought that the contest was interesting and was thinking of joining it in a few days. He just wanted to see what the rules were and how he could limit himself enough to make the contest fun. Ryu just rolled his eyes knowing that his king's competitive side was acting up again.

However, something happened that caught both devils by utter surprise. A boy suddenly appeared at the end of the crowd of students looking at a map. Both devils turned to each other and said at the same time, "Did you see that?"

The duo paused for a second and then Ranma spoke in a hushed whisper, "I didn't feel any sort of energy that should be put off for a teleportation."

Ryu nodded his head, "I know. It had to be a teleportation since there were none of the signs that would be there if that boy just moved super-fast. There weren't any signs that he was using some sort of cloaking ability that I'm aware of."

A frown appeared on Ranma's face. "This isn't making any sense. There's no normal way to hide a teleportation. They're magically noisy, visually flashy, and take a fair amount of time to occur. You can cut those factors down tremendously with an engraved sealing array, but it doesn't hide everything and we both can see that there is no such array on floor."

Both devils looked around at the nearby students and noticed that the students seemed to recognize the mysteriously appearing boy. Ranma and Ryu gave each other a look, nodded their heads, and left their table to talk with the other students.

Ranma approached a group of students and turned up the charm. Years of etiquette classes required by his mother and time on the job speaking to a variety of potential clients made it easy for him to insert himself into the conversation. He spoke in a friendly manner, "Good afternoon everyone. I'm Ranma Saotome and I was hoping one of you would be generous enough to answer a question I have about one of our classmates."

One of the guys at the table replied, "Maybe. It depends who you're talking about and what you want to know."

The devil teen pointed over to the group of students trying to get the bread. "Who's that guy with the tiger striped bandana and oversized backpack?"

All of the students at the table turned to look at where Ranma was pointing. A different person spoke up and said, "Looks like Ryoga's back in town. I wonder how long he'll stay before he wanders off again."

Ranma turned to that student and asked, "Really? Does Ryoga have a habit of being truant from school?" The tone of his voice was set in such a way as to imply that Ranma wasn't sure it was good to be around Ryoga.

Yet a third student at the table spoke up to talk to Ranma with amusement in his voice. "Not by choice. Poor fool can't follow the simplest of directions and gets lost so easily it isn't even funny. I heard that his whole family is the same way, but that Ryoga's got it the worst in that clan's history. He shows up every couple of days in the strangest of places in school. Supposedly, he's got some sort of correspondence deal with the school. Only other thing to know is that he's super strong."

Ranma bowed slightly and said, "Thank you all for your time and for answering my questions." Being polite was always annoying to Ranma since he personally felt it was unnecessary excess. A person should say exactly what they want or need and nothing more. However, his tutors and mother had beaten a filter between his brain and his mouth. It wasn't like he could just relax his speech whenever he wanted to because he never knew when his mom's familiar was observing him. Having his mouth literally washed with the foulest soap his mom could find hammered that lesson home.

* * *

Ryu and Ranma waited until after school was over to talk about their findings. Both of them talked about what they had stumbled across on the way home. Ryu had just finished confirming that everything he had heard matched Ranma's information when an idea came to him. "Hey Ranma, what if that boy Ryoga has a Sacred Gear? Many Sacred Gears break the normal rules of magic."

Ranma paused in mid step as he considered the idea. "That might explain things Ryu. Let me pull out my DevilBerry and check." Ranma pulled out his smart phone and started to do some research as he continued to walk.

A smirk appeared on Ranma's face about three blocks from where he started his search. He put the phone away in his magical storage space and spoke up. "There is a recorded Sacred Gear that might explain Ryoga's ability to appear in thin air. Sinbad's Astrolabe is supposed to have allowed the user to travel vast distances very quickly. There's not too much information on that gear since it's technically a low powered support-type Sacred Gear without direct combat applications. It hasn't been seen since its last known wielder Juan Sebastián Elcano died in the 1500s."

Ryu jumped overhead, flipped himself around mid-air, and landed on the fence in front of Ranma. "That doesn't make any sense to me, Ranma. We saw Ryoga appear out of proverbial thin air. There was no normal sign of him teleporting. Being able to do that is huge. Why by all that is infernal would something like that not be examined thoroughly?"

A cat got the canary grin appeared on Ranma's face. "It was the 1500s Ryu. Most devils in power from that time period were egotistical fools. Sacred Gear research back then was primarily focused on possible threats to Devilkind. Remember, the Devil Civil War occurred in the 1650s and Ajuka Beelzebub didn't create the first Evil Pieces until the 1750s. Every devil could teleport and fly back then. Why should they care about a sacred gear that can let a human teleport? It wasn't a threat to them."

Ranma then leap frogged over Ryu and continued on his way. If his suspicions were correct, then Ranma might have to consider offering Ryoga a chance to join his peerage. It didn't matter if Ryoga actually had a Sacred Gear or not. The boy showed signs of being a protégé of martial arts and that was the important thing to Ranma. Any potential Sacred Gear was just a bonus to add to a person's value. Ranma wasn't too concerned about completing his peerage and was perfectly fine with waiting until he found potential recruits whose personal traits matched what he was looking for.

It was a radical idea that was almost counter intuitive to how his peers formed their peerages. They typically looked at what a potential recruit could do now or any obvious potential growth such as a Sacred Gear. Only his rival Sairaorg shared Ranma's perspective that it was the person being added that mattered. Strength could be gained by anyone who had the will to train themselves for the strength. Ryu was a perfect example since he was only worth one pawn as human with no special talents, but last month Ryu had taken down most of Sona's peerage in a spar.

Sairaorg's and Ranma's outlook probably came from the fact that both devils were the outcasts among the young high ranking devils. Sairaorg was looked down upon for not inheriting the Power of Destruction that made his clan famous. He had been disinherited because he lacked that power and had only reclaimed his rightful position through fighting for it. Ranma was shunned because of his human blood. It was rather idiotic in Ranma's opinion since all devils besides the original Satans are descended from humans, but facts never got in the way of idiocy.

Now, in the pureblood devils' defense, the fact that the devil race is effectively an offshoot of humanity was a pretty well hidden secret. Lucifer, Beelzebub, Leviathan, and Asmodeus were all seraphim who fled Heaven out of jealousy because of humanity being created. Somehow, as Ranma had not learned how, the four former angels transformed their light based powers into dark based powers becoming the first devils. They then formed an alliance with the descendants of Cain and through a series of rituals transformed them into devils. The first 72 men who made the pact and their wives became the founding devils of the 72 pillars and given special powers for their 'bravery' of accepting the Satans' offer. The next two batches of humans to be transformed became the founders of the extra devils and the common devils.

Ranma knew because he had accidentally stumbled across some of Ajuka's notes about Lucifer's Damnation Ritual a few years ago when Serafall had Ajuka babysit Ranma. That misadventure resulted in Ranma being pulled into a quiet meeting with all four Satans where Ranma learned three important facts. 1) Ajuka had used Lucifer's Damnation Ritual as the starting point to create the Evil Pieces. 2) There was no biological difference between 'pure' devils and 'reincarnated' devils. 3) He'd be sealed in Cocytus for a century if he shared facts 1 or 2 before they were declassified. If those facts got out now it would probably cause a second Devil Civil War.

Ryu stood on the fence surprised by what Ranma had told him. He still forgot from time to time just how long a devil's lifespan was. A couple of centuries might as well be a couple of years or a decade ago to a devil depending on just how old a devil was. He quickly shook that surprise off when he remembered the look on Ranma's face. That look spelt trouble and the question was who was going to end up in trouble because of whatever was going through Ranma's mind. Ryu ran after his king and called out, "What are you planning Ranma?"

"It's simple Ryu; I'm going to test Ryoga."

* * *

Ryoga was so happy. He had been able to get to school two days in a row! To make things even better the lunch ladies were tossing out his favorite bread for free and it was just within his grasp. Suddenly, everything came literally crashing down on Ryoga as something forced him to kiss the floor.

That something happened to be Ranma who used the fanged lost boy as a spring board to snatch the bread. Ranma hopped off of Ryoga and stood there with the bread in one hand and a grin on his face. Ryoga looked up from his spot on the ground and saw Ranma grinning. The grin was just perfect for getting someone's temper up and Ryoga rose to the bait. "Hey! That's my bread!"

Ranma leapt up to grab another slice of bread with his other hand. "It's first come, first served. I got it so both of these breads are mine." Several of the students noticed what was going on and started to back away. They remembered the last time Ryoga was goaded into a fight. One of the students was kind enough to offer up a prayer for the dumb smuck who was about to be sent to the emergency room.

Ryoga was simmering with rage. He had to go weeks between having a warm home cooked meal. Most days he had to satisfy himself with cheap canned food occasionally supplemented by some wild animal he caught. The free bread from school was a dear delicacy to Ryoga and now someone was trying to take that away from him. "How dare you! Do you know what I've suffered to try and get that bread?"

The young devil replied in a deliberately cheerful manner, "Nope. I honestly don't care about your supposed sufferings. However, I'm willing to make a deal with you. Give me a good martial arts spar and you get both breads. If I think you're a lousy fighter then I'll eat both breads in front of you after I've knocked your block off. Do we have a deal?"

Ryoga's response to Ranma's offer was to throw a haymaker at the grinning devil. Ranma dodged the attack and smiled as he said, "I'll take that as you accepting my offer Ryoga. Now, defend yourself!" Ranma threw the bread up in the air, unleashed three quick punches of his own, and caught the bread as it started to fall. The devil then back flipped away from Ryoga to get some more distance. There was a slight of hand during the backflip to place the bread in Ranma's personal storage space. No sense risking good bread during a fight.

A crowd started to gather as the students saw that someone was actually fighting Ryoga and not just getting beat down by him. The crowd kept getting larger and more animated as the fight continued. Usually, a punk would show up once a month or so thinking he was hot stuff and would end up getting brutally beaten down by Ryoga. Here they saw Ryoga getting just as good as he gave.

Ranma lead the spar towards the sports field mostly dodging and occasionally blocking Ryoga's attacks. A small smirk was on his face that was slowly, but steadily turning into a grin. Ryoga was good for a human. There were high class devils that would be knocked out from some of the punches Ryoga was throwing at him. Now granted, many of the devils on that list were high class only because of their birth. However, that didn't change the fact that Ryoga's strength was well beyond what any normal human could pull off without some extremely advanced training. His endurance was incredible as the fanged boy soaked up stone shattering punches and kicks from Ranma.

The two fighters weren't even by a long shot. While Ryoga was extremely powerful for a human, Ranma was powerful for a devil. Ranma had the power and skill to back up his status as a high class devil. It wouldn't be too difficult for him to destroy the Greater Tokyo Area with a single attack. This fact annoyed the young devil because there was still a massive gap in power between him and his mother who could destroy all of Japan in a single attack no sweat. He understood that he was still growing and that his mother had centuries of training behind her. However, was it really asking too much to be able to destroy Honshu or at least Hokkaido?

Ranma was making sure to keep his attacks and general abilities just a little above what Ryoga was showing. The young devil dodged a punch aimed at his head from Ryoga's fist that hit the basketball pole behind him. Said basketball pole was forced into a 90 degree angle from where Ryoga's fist hit it. Ranma jumped backwards, grabbed the bent pole, and used it to swing into a kick against Ryoga. The force of both of Ranma's feet hitting Ryoga with that momentum behind them forced the fanged boy into the air. Ryoga flew back a few feet and landed on his back after crashing into the bleachers.

Ryoga found himself in a daze that he was having trouble shaking off. He had withstood harder blows before, but Ranma's attack caught him by surprise and he had been unable to properly brace himself for the fall. Two objects landed on Ryoga's chest just as his vision returned to him. Ryoga looked down and was shocked to see two breads in their packaging gently resting on his chest.

"I'm calling the match now. I don't want to risk a good sparring partner getting a long term injury." Ryoga turned his head to see Ranma casually sitting on the bent basketball pole. There was a friendly grin on Ranma's face as he looked at Ryoga, eyed the bread, and returned to looking at the lost boy. "What? I said that if you gave me a good martial arts spar that I'd give both breads. You're one of the best martial artists in our age group living in Japan that I've met and gave a great spar. I'm not about to try and weasel out of paying my dues using a quibble."

The human boy blinked his eyes several times as his brain processed what just happened. On the one hand, the jerk in front of him had taken his hard earned bread and didn't care about the suffering he had endured. On the other hand, the jerk had given him back the bread with an extra one after a rather enjoyable fight. It had been months since Ryoga had gotten a good fight in to really let off some steam. Ryoga finally decided to accept Ranma's offer and started to eat the bread.

Once Ryoga was eating, Ranma pulled out a flyer from his storage space. The devil waited until Ryoga had finished eating one of the breads to speak up. "Ryoga, I've got a little trinket for you. It's something that my family likes to hand out to those we think are worthy." Ranma paused to hold the flyer out in front of Ryoga. "It's said that if you receive one of these flyers and have a wish you really want that the flyer will provide you a means to fulfill that wish."

Ryoga looked at the flyer and then looked at Ranma. He had a questioning look on his face as he inquired. "Why are you giving this to me? Don't you want your wish fulfilled?"

With a shrug Ranma replied, "It doesn't work like that. A member of my mother's clan made this flyer so it won't fulfill any of my wishes. Distributing these flyers is a side business for most of my mother's family and I help out now and then. If you want the possibility of a wish being granted the flyer's yours."

There was a second of hesitation and then Ryoga took the flyer from Ranma.


	2. Chapter 2

That night, Ryoga was sitting in his home thanks to Shirokuro finding him at his camp and leading Ryoga home. Shirokuro was warming up a hot dinner for Ryoga who was sitting in a chair at his guiding dog's insistence. Part of Ryoga was sad that neither of his parents had found their way to the house again since he had last been in here. However, he did console himself with the fact that it had only been two weeks since his last visit home which was very short for him. Maybe if he was lucky one of his parents would pop up soon. It was unlikely, but it would be nice since it had been several months since he had seen his parents face to face.

Ryoga let out a sigh of disappointment knowing that such a thing happening was way too much good luck for him to ever get. The only way he was going to luck out like that considering how much good luck he had recently gotten would be with a magical wish. A gleam of blue light caught the fanged boy's attention out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head to look at the flyer that Ranma had given him earlier which was sticking out of his backpack. Ryoga picked up the flyer and brought it so he could look at it.

It was about the size of a large bookmark with a large and complicated blue circular symbol on the top fifth of the flyer. The symbol almost seemed to glow in the light. It was probably designed out of a very reflective ink. Underneath the symbol was written the following text:

"All of your heart's most secret desires uncovered.

That which is within my power to grant,

Let the two meet as thou they were lovers.

Do not think this a dream to make you rant.

Strike a bargain and make a pact,

The price you pay is to get your dream and nothing more

Let this be the governing of our contract."

Ryoga reread the text of the flyer several times trying to make heads or tails of it since it was different from the good fortune charms he was used to looking at. Was the poem a warning or an invitation? Ranma did say that the flyer was supposed to help grant one's wish and it did say that it could if the price was met. The lost boy shrugged his shoulders after a minute of thinking and decided to give it a try. He held the flyer in both hands and said, "I wish I didn't get lost all of the time."

The symbol on the flyer glowed and then a giant blue circle appeared floating a few inches off of the floor in front of Ryoga. His eyes bulged out in shock as the circle became brighter and a person started to rise out of it. There was a flash of light that left Ryoga dazed for a second. He saw Ranma standing in the circle with two bat-like wings once his slight returned.

Incomprehensible sounds came out of Ryoga's slack-jawed mouth as his bulging eyes tried to make sense of the sight before him. Ryoga raised his hand in a shaky manner as he slowly managed the motor control to point a finger at Ranma. After a few seconds, Ryoga regained the ability to babble. "What the? How did you? Did you really?"

Ranma gave a polite bow and said, "Good evening summoner. I am Ranma Sitri of the Sitri Clan and I will be the devil to fulfill your wish tonight."

The hair on the back of Ryoga's neck stood straight up when he heard what Ranma said. Ryoga's face became white as all his blood left it. He then fearfully repeated, "Devil?"

It was only with training and experience that Ranma was able to bite back the sigh of exasperation he had at Ryoga's all too common reaction from a new customer. Ranma snapped his fingers making the sigil disappear and made a large blackboard appear behind him. He retracted his wings and pointed to first point written on the blackboard while speaking. "Yes, you have summoned a devil Ryoga and here is why you have nothing to fear."

"First, I don't want you soul. It's not only been illegal since the 1700s, but it's been medically proven that consuming a human soul will fuck up a devil. It like the nastiest illegal drug in the world cranked up to 11 for devils." If anything, Ranma was downplaying the effects that consuming a human soul had to devils. It ravaged a devil's body and power while causing a devil to hallucinate. His grandparents had proven through after action reports that a large portion of casualties in the Great War could be attributed to human soul consumption.

Ranma moved his hand to the second point and said, "Second, I'm here to grant you a wish for payment and nothing more. Both the wish and the payment have to be mutually agreed on by both of us before I can do anything for or to you Ryoga. If your wish is by some odd chance beyond my abilities or you are unable to pay for it I head home."

"Finally," the devil said as his hand moved the final point on the board. "I'm not about to screw you over with the wish once we have agreed to everything. I, like the vast majority of devils, want to have a pool of reliable clients to keep my business in the black. Screwing you over means that I'm screwing myself over, do you understand?" Shirokuro came over just as Ranma finished speaking and happily accepted a scratch behind the ears from Ranma.

Ryoga slowly nodded his head while the color returned to his face. Most of what Ranma was saying made some sense to him. He wasn't sure about that first point, but Ryoga didn't think Ranma was lying about that. However, the big selling point to Ryoga was the fact that Shirokuro wasn't acting aggressively towards Ranma. Shirokuro was an excellent judge of character and Ranma couldn't be a bad person if she liked him.

With Shirokuro's reassurance, Ryoga made up his mind and said, "Alright Ranma. I have a wish I want you to grant. I'm tired of constantly ending up in weird locations and having trouble finding places. I want to not constantly get lost."

Ranma nodded his head and pulled out his DevilBerry to log Ryoga's request. He then turned to Ryoga and asked, "Do you mind if I scan you? This will let me know why you're having these problems so I can find a solution."

Ryoga nodded his head. It only made sense that Ranma would need to check him to find out why he kept on getting lost. At least he was decent enough to ask for permission. A small copy of the Sitri sigil appeared in Ranma's hand and it created a faint blue wave of light. The light swept over Ryoga several times from head to toe while giving Ranma a health report. It was a special spell that was kept in house by the Sitri clan designed by a reincarnated magician to pull asked for health information. Good thing the spell only pulled the info a person asked for or Ranma would have been swamped by the potential information.

With the information on hand, Ranma quickly entered what he learned into his DevilBerry. The Greed App quickly pulled out the various options Ranma had on hand and the assessed costs involved. Ranma had to repress a wince as he looked at the results and the costs involved. He turned to Ryoga and said, "Well, I've got good and bad news for you Ryoga. The good news is that I have verified why you keep getting lost and it can be treated. The bad news is that to permanently treat all of reasons you get lost is going to cost a lot."

Ranma continued his explanation before Ryoga could speak. "Your problem is twofold Ryoga. The first part of your issue is that have a special item fused to your soul known as a Sacred Gear. Your particular Sacred Gear is Sinbad's Astrolabe which can transport its user very long distances and it's partially activated. Because of this, your Sacred Gear is randomly teleporting you to different places at uncertain intervals. You can get training in how to use Sinbad's Astrolabe which will let you control where and when you teleport. That kind of training is expensive, but feasible."

"It's the second part of your problem that is really expensive. Basically put, your brain isn't wired correctly in how it understands spatial relationships. I can tell you that the directions between points A and B are in order 1, 2, and 3, but your mind will hear and think that the directions are 3, 1, and 2. It's because of this that you're constantly getting lost if you don't have someone guiding you somewhere." Ranma paused for a moment to pat Shirokuro for additional emphasis.

There was an additional pause as the devil let his client absorb the information. He then continued. "This condition is treatable, but that's where the cost comes in. The only hospital that can perform a surgery to cure your condition is my clan's hospital in the Underworld and there are several problems with that. First, it's ruinously expensive for an unaffiliated human to get transportation to the Underworld alive. Second, the surgery itself is expensive since there aren't many infernal brain surgeons that are qualified to operate on humans. Third, human health insurance does not cover infernal operations and the Underworld's medical facilities all operate on a payment first policy. Humans don't even get the option of a payment plan and have to pay in full upfront."

Ryoga blinked his eyes in shock and then muttered, "That doesn't seem to be very caring of the doctors."

This caused Ranma to roll his eyes and reply "I'm talking about devil doctors in the Underworld or Hell as you humans like to refer to it. Oh they'll do their job wonderfully if you pay them, but don't expect them to care about you beyond a professional level. Especially, if you're someone they view as a lower lifeform." Ranma had seen that kind of attitude plenty of times towards yokais or the occasional human when he visited his grandparents at work. He had never been subject to that attitude since the doctors and nurses seemed to view anyone with even a drop of devil blood as automatically superior to all other lifeforms. Even if they did have negative views on halfbloods, the fact that he was a Sitri would keep even the biggest bigot from voicing their opinion to him.

Ranma looked firmly at Ryoga and said, "Let's get back to your wish Ryoga. There are 4 options available to me to fulfill your wish. I can create a GPS that will always tell you where you are and gives you constant directions on where you want to go. Base cost for this will be 9,000 yen with various possible upgrades to the value of 80,000 yen. I can train you to use Sinbad's Astrolabe so that it stops you from teleporting at random times and you can use it to teleport where you want to go. That will cost 200,000 yen a month with the payment due in full at the start of the month. I can book an operation for you at my family's hospital to cure your brain defect. Will all of the fees and transportation cost that will cost 61,600,000 yen."

"What!" Ryoga blurted out in shock, "61,600,000 yen?! How the hell am I supposed to get that kind of money?" Shirokuro walked over and nuzzled Ryoga in an effort to comfort him.

This outburst earned Ryoga the stink eye from Ranma who briskly said, "I said your medical condition was treatable if expensive. Your final option is some combination of the 3 previous options. Your payment doesn't have to be strictly in cash. Property that you own with an assessable cash value can also be used as part or as the full payment. Note that if you use an item that is valued more than the cost of the wish I get to keep the difference. I'm also able to give you credit on your wish for any martial arts technique you know that I don't know if you teach it to me. This credit is to a max of 40% of the wish's value or 40,000 yen whichever comes first."

Ranma was a bit glum as he mentioned the limits on the martial arts technique credit. Why did his mother have to put that limiter on him? Other devils got their wishes paid in favors or knowledge without any limits. It was a completely unfair rule. The fact that almost 90% of Ranma's wishes prior to that ruling were paid in martial arts techniques while the average devil had roughly 10% of their wishes paid for in favors or knowledge conveniently slipped his mind.

Ryoga slumped in his chair annoyed and upset. "Damn it, I finally get a chance to stop getting lost and it's out of reach! What I wouldn't give if I had it for a chance to be able to find my way where ever I want to go."

Those words caused Ranma's ears to twitch as a thought came to him. Ranma reviewed the options for Ryoga's wish, quickly pulled up some additional information on his phone, and nodded his head. The devil turned returned to looking at Ryoga and said, "I have a way that you can your wish granted completely without the high yen cost. However, the cost will be pretty steep and this option depends on just how far you're willing to stand by that statement you just said."

A chill ran down Ryoga's spine when he heard those words. Ranma seemed to be an okay guy, well an okay devil. But, Ranma had made it crystal clear that any services he would provide as a devil came at a cost. The typically lost boy felt his throat dry up as he asked, "What kind of cost are we talking about here?"

Ranma snapped his finger causing a sigil to briefly appear and a chess board on a small table to rise up out of it. The chess board had one set of chess pieces on it and the set was missing a king and a pawn piece. Ranma put his hand on the board and said, "I am a high class devil which grants me certain privileges. Most of these privileges concern matters you don't need to know about given your current circumstances."

"However, there is one privilege that will be able to help you out if you accept me invoking it Ryoga Hibiki. I have the right to my own peerage which grants me the ability to claim a select number of lower class devils or to transform beings from other races into devils as my special servants. In return for their loyalty and service to me, I grant my peerage my patronage and that of the Sitri Clan along with giving them access to opportunities of social advancement with devil society. A devil, even a reincarnated devil, who is a member of a peerage and works hard, can find themselves members of the high class with the right to their own peerage after a century or two of loyal service."

"I'm letting you know about this Ryoga, because I'm willing to offer you a spot in my peerage. Your determination and your passion for martial arts is something I want in my peerage. There's about a 66.6% percent chance that the reincarnation process that will be used to transform you into a devil if you agree to this offer will cure you of slight disability. Even if it doesn't, getting the operation to fix things will be a breeze for you. As a devil under my command the costs associated with bringing a human to the Underworld no longer exist. The cost of the operation would also no longer concern you as it would fall to me as your master to cover the cost."

Ranma's face hardened and his voice became very serious as he looked at Ryoga. "Let me make something very clear to you Ryoga. Don't take this option unless you are absolutely willing to commit to it. I'm almost certain we can scrounge up enough cash and techniques for me to create a GPS for you. With a basic GPS it shouldn't be too hard for you to make more money to later wish for a better GPS or lessons on how to control Sinbad's Astrolabe. I don't mind being summoned multiple times to help you as your financial situation improves."

"However, if you join my peerage you are choosing to sacrifice your humanity and agree to serve me as either my servant or as my vassal for the next couple thousand years of your devil life. There is no backing out of being a devil and the only way for you to leave my service without being hunted down and killed like a rabid dog is for me to trade you to another high class devil. The enemies of all devils and the enemies of the Sitri Clan will become your enemies. Enemies who wouldn't think twice about killing you if they thought it would help them or if they could get away with it."

Ryoga wished he could swallow, but his throat was too dry to do so. He nervously said, "You're making it sound like becoming a devil is like joining the Yakuza."

An eerie light seemed to emanate from Ranma's eyes as he said, "What can I say? Some pervious devil clients paid closer attention than others when the devil granting their wishes talked about the Underworld."

* * *

The Sitri sigil woven into a floor mat in Ranma and Ryu's room lit up. Ranma quickly emerged from the light Ranma stretched out for a second and relaxed. He pulled out his DevilBerry and checked the text messages he had received while on the job. Good, Ryu had completed one job moving a grand piano up two flights of stairs and was working on another job helping someone move into their apartment. The amounts would bring the peerage account up to a good level this month. They had already met their goal for the month, but neither boy was satisfied with merely meeting expectations.

Ranma walked over to the desk, pulled a laptop out of his storage space, set it down on the desk, and booted up the laptop. He then got down to the annoying task of writing reports about the state of his peerage and his business ventures for the month. The Underworld might not have invented paperwork, but there sure was more than enough of it to go around down there. Ranma had to review and itemize how his stipend for peerage maintenance was spent. Shifting the unused parts of the stipend along with the allowance his mother gave to bank account for him and the peerage. He had to certify that the living expenses stipend had not been touched and request that the funds be turned over to his personal portfolio. Most importantly, Ranma had to see that his tithes were sent in.

Taxes in the Underworld were surprisingly straight forward. 10 percent of what you made went to your overlord. That meant that Ranma had to give 10 percent to his grandfather who in turn had to pay 10 percent of what Clan Sitri made to his overlord Serafall Leviathan. Another 10 percent of what you made went directly to the Satans. All tithes were a matter of public record and a devil's reputation rose and fell by the size of their tithes. This was also a driving force causing many young devils to try and complete their peerage as fast as possible. With a larger peerage one had more servants out earning more thanks to more jobs being completed. That in turn gave a young devil more income and thus a bigger tithe to build a better reputation.

It was honestly a big headache for Ranma who would much rather be out fulfilling contract or better yet, training. However, it was one of the duties of a King and Ranma's pride would not let him shirk those duties. So he sat down and proceeded with some reluctance to wrestle with the financial headache waiting for him.

The sigil flared again just as Ranma saved the last document he needed to work on. Ryu walked over to Ranma and he collapsed on the floor. The pawn looked up at his king and said between pants, "Can I have tomorrow off?"

Ranma looked down at Ryu with a questioning look, "Why? You usually do contracts involving heavy lifting so what happened on this one?"

Ryu looked up and said, "My last client was heavy into incense use and all of their stuff smelt of it. They especially liked to use frankincense and myrrh in their incense."

A wince of sympathy appeared on Ranma's face as he said, "You've got tomorrow off." Genuine frankincense and myrrh had minor light properties which made breathing in the fumes from them like breathing in extremely nasty smog to a devil. That's probably why Heaven had encouraged their followers to use those items in various rituals.

There was silence for a minute as Ryu tried to clear his head and Ranma checked to see if Ryu had any regulars he'd need to cover for his pawn tomorrow. Ryu broke that silence by asking, "So, did you get any new customers Ranma?"

Ranma frowned for a moment and said, "Not tonight. Ryoga didn't want to go with the option that was within his budget and is fixated with the options that are normally out of his reach."

Ryu shrugged and said, "Even you can't win them all Ranma. Maybe in a few days Ryoga will call you back wanting the more affordable option." It wouldn't be the first time that a client of theirs called back for a cheaper alternative that had been offered when the precise wish was outside the client's means to pay.

"Oh I'm almost certain that Ryoga will call me again soon. Only this time he will be calling to join my peerage."

It was a good thing that Ryu was sitting down became it was quite shocking to hear that there might be another member of the peerage soon. "What?"

A look of amusement appeared on Ranma's face as he replied, "Don't tell me you thought that you would always be the only member of my peerage."

That earned the high class devil a nearby pillow thrown to the head. Ryu followed his insubordinate attack with a verbal salvo. "No man, it's just that this is the first time I recall you offered someone the chance to join your peerage in years."

Ranma shrugged and said, "I just haven't run into people that I think are worth bringing into my peerage. Ryoga has characteristics I've been searching for and there is a good chance he'll take me up on my offer."

"What if he doesn't take you on your offer Ranma?"

"Then I don't get a new member of my peerage. At most, I wasted a flyer since I could consider the whole experience as learning to convince someone to join my peerage." If there was one thing Grandfather Sitri had hammered home to Ranma was that anything was only wasted if you got nothing out of it. Even failure was valuable if you could learn a lesson from it.

There was silence for a moment before Ranma said, "Pops is probably going to get us up before the sun rises like usual. So let's call it a night and some sleep?"

* * *

At the same time in the Underworld, Lord Saar Sitri and Lady Sheli Sitri were having a secret meeting with all four Satans. This meeting was off the books and was to be recorded strictly by word of mouth. Ajuka Beelzebub started the meeting getting straight to the heart of the matter. "Has the Devil Genome Project been completed?"

Saar nodded his head and replied, "It has and the results are as we feared. The Original Satans encoded several contingencies into devils when they transformed our ancestors. Some of the contingencies are powerful spell matrixes. Please note that not all of these encoded spells are in every devil genome. All devils descended from the 72 pillars, pure-blooded status or not, have two extra encoded spells in their DNA. Lady Sitri and her peerage believe that these spells are control mechanisms to keep the devil population subservient to the original Satans. How they work is unclear, but they are irremovable. Attempts to remove or modify any results in the complete unraveling of DNA and creates a chemical that triggers cell death in other cells."

As bad as that news was, it was not the worst news Saar had to give. "These spell contingencies are deeply troubling. However, they are not the immediate and more imminent threat to devils in the contingencies." Saar needed a moment to calm down his hate to a manageable level so that he didn't show it in his voice. "Simply put, the original Satans did not intend for devils to exist long after their deaths. One of the contingencies is a fertility reduction that immediately takes effect if the original Satans are killed reducing a devils fertility until it reaches the point of sterility. This reduction is set based off of the number of generations a devil is from their line's creation as a devil in the amount as follows: Pillar 7 generations, Extra 11 generations, and Common at 13 generations."

The four current Satans' faces became white as snow as they processed what their namesakes had cursed all devils with. Sirzechs broke the silence with a trembling voice laced with horror. "What about children born from two different groups of devils? What would the generation limit be for a devil with an extra and a common devil as their parents?" Sirzechs was terrified at what this news meant for Millicas.

Sheli spoke up at this point. "We are somewhat fortunate since the fertility reduction reaches a middle ground when confronting someone with a mixed heritage from our traditional social groups. The same goes for devils whose parents are from different generations within a social group. This is due to devil genetics having a tendency to incorporate helpful mutations. If I may use you and your family as an example Lord Lucifer," Sheli paused to wait for Sirzechs response.

Sirzechs quickly nodded his head in permission. He needed to know the answer and was terrified at what it could mean at the same time.

Lady Sitri then said, "Lord Zeoticus Gremory is an early 5th generation devil while Lady Venelana Gremory is one of the last born 4th generation devils. Because of the parental generational difference, you and your sister Lady Rias Gremory are a hypothetical generation 5.5 in terms of fertility reduction. Lady Grayfila is a 9th generation devil of Extra origins. This makes Master Millicas Gremory a hypothetical generation 8.25 on a theoretical 9 generation fertility reduction track."

Saar took over the explanation again. "The whole reason we have these hypothetical generations and abnormal fertility reduction tracks is because the old caste system was allowed to weaken in the latter centuries of the original Lucifer's reign. It's often overlooked that the other Satans who died with the original Lucifer were the children of the original Satans. The original Beelzebub, Leviathan, and Asmodeus having each died previously and partially activating the fertility reduction curse."

Serafall spoke up at this point, "Sounds like this fertility reduction curse was also supposed to keep the original satans looking out for each other. If they let or caused one of the others to die then they'd have fewer soldiers to work with in the future."

Falbium sighed and spoke up, "This is troubling and troublesome. The Extra and especially the Common devils were used as cannon fodder during the Great War. Their generation count is far higher. That's not counting those who are secretly descended from Pillar devil bastards or whose family line was forced down to that level."

Saar's voice was colder than Serafall's ice magic as he spoke again. "All pureblood devil bloodlines are 1 or 2 generations form extinction due to sterility. Some young devils, such as Ruval Phenex's heir, are at their terminal generation. Post-natal genetic analysis of these devils has confirmed that they will never have children of their own blood." Being the father of his girls made all the horrors he suffered in his life worth it. Saar would rather be turned into an angel then go without his children so the thought that children were being born who would never have that chanced sickened him.

All the satans looked weak enough that a light breeze could blow them over. Silence filled the room at the news. Devils in the form of purebloods were doomed because of the actions of the most famous and revered members of Devil history. Such news couldn't be released because it would trigger a bloodbath. At the same time, there would almost certainly be a bloodbath in a generation once devils caught on to the fact that purebloods weren't having children and the old power structure would be dying off. That's if the purebloods didn't start trying to kill the reincarnated devils thinking that it would somehow grant them their fertility back.

Ajuka spoke up, "Where do the reincarnated devils fit into all of this? Previous testing showed that any being transformed became a devil completely. Has the project resulted in any concerning findings for them?"

Saar shook his head, "Genetically the reincarnated devils are the same as pureblood devils. However, they are the superior breed when it comes to the various contingencies. The spell contingencies are there, but they're effectively inert. The fertility reduction also exists, only it's on a 17 generation count and it's tied to whoever is the devil's king. This means that they effectively don't have the curse."

Sheli took over, "My team has noticed that pureblooded devils that join the peerages of lower generation count devils have a slight increase in fertility. We just don't have enough data at this time to give you solid improvement amounts. We've also found that natural hybrids can have the contingencies non-existent or weakened in their genetic structure. What is removed or weakened among hybrids is purely left to chance. The only reliable way to deal with these contingencies is the reincarnation of humans and the integration of the reincarnated bloodlines into the old bloodlines."

Everyone at the table turned their head to look at Sirzechs who visibly wilted at their stares. As Lucifer, he was responsible for the internal administration of the Devils in addition to being the nominal leader of all demons. This issue was squarely within his domain to solve and everyone else was glad that they didn't have to make the call on this issue. At the same time, they couldn't help pitying Sirzechs since he was left with an impossible issue to somehow solve.

Sirzechs sighed and said, "I think we've had a vast amount of information given to us today. I think a recess is in order so that we can all mull over this information. We'll reconvene in three weeks to review potential options to handle this situation." With that said Sirzechs, Falbium, and Ajuka hurried out of the room.

Serafall let her satan guise drop so that her parents could see the worry on her face. She rushed over to her parents now that they were alone and worriedly asked, "This is horrible. What are we going to do for Sona?" Sona and Serafall were both 6th generation pillar devils which meant that if Sona married a pureblooded devil her children would almost certainly be sterile. At the same time, Clan Sitri had very few branches left with the only possible pureblood successor to Sona being an older criminal that was part of the Old Satan faction. If Ranma or any of the remaining cousins took over the Sitri clan would be forced out of the Pillars because of the current rules.

Clan Sitri losing Pillar status would be dangerous for the clan itself as it would strip the clan of many political tools and open it to attacks by other clans. At the same time, it would weaken the Meritocratic Faction's power in the Conclave of Pillars. Changing the rules to allow non pureblood Pillar families sadly wouldn't fly at the moment. Even many of the Meritocratic family heads wouldn't accept such an idea since they'd practically have to restore the fallen pillars to the Conclave of Pillars. That would weaken the power of each vote because there would be almost double the number of voting heads in the Conclave.

Saar and Sheli looked at each other for a long moment and then shook their heads. Saar bowed his head and said, "We appreciate your concern Lady Leviathan. Rest assures that my lady and I are looking into this situation. We will find a solution to this situation and we ask that you not look too closely into this matter as we will handle it as your vassals."

Serafall felt like she had been slapped for a second to hear her father talking so formally to her in private. However, she quickly noticed a discrete signal from Sheli that part of the mother and daughter's private code system. Her parents already had a solution in mind, but they keeping it close to their chests. They wanted her to have plausible deniability if whatever they were planning was discovered.

With a formal look on her face and fear in her heart, Serafall returned the bow. "I am pleased to hear of such industry from my vassals." She signaled as she spoke wishing her parents the best of luck.


	3. Chapter 3

Ryoga did not show up for class that morning and no one was honestly surprised at that. Most students and the teachers honestly expected him to not be there as no one could recall the last time the young Hibiki had been in town three days in a row. Ranma also wasn't surprised that Ryoga wasn't in class. However, he was momentarily surprised when the tracker he put on Ryoga's flyer showed him to be somewhere in Kyrgyzstan. Sinbad's Astrolabe was no joke when it came to teleporting. Seriously, what stupidity had possessed his ancestors to write off that Sacred Gear as unimportant? If an exorcist ever got their hands on Sinbad's Astrolabe they would become the perfect assassin against any devil.

Class wasn't too interesting for Ranma with one exception. Science class was doing a unit on the climate and they were currently covering typhoons. It interested Ranma because of his training with water and ice magic. Seeing something become so powerful and destructive from something as benign as warm water was inspirational. There were some spells that could summon destructive forces that equaled or greatly eclipsed a category 5 typhoon. However, those spells cost an almost stupid level of power to brute force the effect the caster wanted.

Some research during lunch on his phone had yielded some interesting facts to Ranma. The publicly available knowledge and the information in the Sitri private records talked about casters having to fight against the weather to impose their will and create the desired effect. Some writers seemed to be boasting that only a truly strong devil could impose their will over their surroundings.

Ranma ate his bento in an almost mechanical manner as he mulled over what he had learned. His science teacher talked about how typhoons formed and what made them grow. There were spells out there that could make cyclonic storms, but the how never seemed to come with a great description. It was something that really frustrated Ranma when it came to devil magic as it was so focused on the effect that the cause tended to be forgotten about completely.

It was always a point of contention for Ranma whenever he had to learn his magic lessons when he was younger. The answer to everything was to imagine what you wanted, pour enough magic into your intent, and what you want will happen. How was Ranma supposed to get better at a spell if all one considered was the end result?

Genma, as much as Ranma didn't want to admit it, was much more through when it came to teaching martial arts. Ranma could remember literally hours of his father yelling you're putting too much stress on your muscles or what are you doing tiring yourself out like that? The constant yelling about how wrong he was doing something was annoying during training, but at least Genma explained how the technique worked. Genma had also literally beaten Ranma into accepting that brute strength was not the be all and end all of power.

Soft martial arts styles could beat strong martial arts styles through redirecting an opponent's attack. Exorcists killed devils and fallen angels using skill and technique even if their prey was many times stronger than them. Without a certain amount of skill a person's power was wasted. At the same time, without a certain amount of power a person's skill was useless. It was only with a healthy balance of power and skill that someone achieved victory.

It was a martial arts lesson that Ranma had been applying with great success to his magic studies. Ranma had discovered that if he could think of how he wanted something to happen when he cast a spell that the spell was more mana efficient. For example, the water serpent spell was a basic strong magical attack for the Sitri clan. Ranma had found that he could fire off twice as many of those spells once he considered where the water he was using came from. Sairaorg had really been miffed at that fact when the duo had their spar after Ranma discovered that fact.

All Ranma could consider at the moment was how he could apply his science lessons to magically creating a typhoon. First he had to figure out whether mana or chi would be better to use. The two energies were similar and training one did marginally result in training of the other. However, the two were also very different in terms of applications.

These thoughts came to an abrupt end when Ranma felt someone gently put their hand on his shoulder. Ranma immediately tensed ready for a fight and then relaxed when he saw that the hand belonged to Ryu. "What do you want Ryu?" Ranma said in a slightly grumpy manner.

"Class starts in 2 minutes Ranma." Ryu said as casually as if he was talking about the weather.

Ranma blinked his eyes and then his eyes widened in shock when he realized that he and Ryu were the only ones left in the cafeteria. The half devil shot to his feet and hurriedly collected his bento. "Thanks for the warning. Bless it; mom will have me be a stunt double in her show if she sees any tardy marks on my report card." The duo took off to the classroom and just barely made it in before the teacher showed up for class.

* * *

Familiars were extremely useful for any devil and Ranma's familiar Ignis was no exception. Ignis was a bit of a head scratcher for most devils who hadn't meet Ranma before. Familiars were supposed to help their masters so what was a devil who primarily casted water and ice spells doing with a demonic salamander the size of a komodo dragon? Ranma picked Ignis so that it could handle magic that was good against his usual magic. Those who knew Ranma could see his logic even if common thinking was that you got a familiar that could enhance your spell casting if it wasn't a pure brute force attacker.

Ignis was currently in its human guise as a man in his thirties that the salamander used to distribute flyers. The familiar had noticed an interesting back alley scuffle and alerted its master. The salamander felt Ranma exert his will over it a few seconds later as Ranma looked through his familiar's eyes.

Ranma watched the alley scuffle with interest as he half focused on his geography lesson. Thankfully, Ranma had been taught how to split his attention like this or he would have had to choose which to think about. It was a fight between a middle schooler and three high school dropouts. The middle schooler was wearing a green jumpsuit with yellow buttons and had slicked back black hair. As for the dropouts, they had a few tattoos that proclaimed them to be low level yakuza thugs.

It was obvious that the middle schooler, although not formally trained, was an experienced fighter. Ranma clearly saw that the boy was very aware of his surroundings and was using them to his advantage. The middle schooler was also very strong and quick for his age. He probably got into a multitude of fights if he got that strong without formal training. It indicated that the boy probably had some sort of troubled home life.

Soon enough, the three punks were knocked out. Ranma that watched as the boy fleeced the wallets of his attackers. With Ignis's ears Ranma heard the boy talk. "Well jerks, if you're going to trouble me with putting up with your ugly mugs the least you can do is cover my trip to the arcade." He quickly emptied the wallets of all cash and threw them back at the punks.

Amid the groaning, one of the punks spoke up. "Go to hell Urameshi."

The now named Urameshi snorted and replied, "Why would I want to visit your house loser? See you jerks later."

Ranma gave Ignis the command to discreetly follow the middle schooler and try to find out more about him. The boy was uncouth and untrained. However, he had the spirit of a fighter and some hidden talent. It would be a good idea to watch the boy and get a good read on his character. Who knows, in a few years he might be someone to consider reincarnating.

Reincarnating someone into a devil was a serious matter and deserved a fair amount of forethought on the part of the high class devil. One's peerage was more than a collection of servants. It was a group of companions who were the manifestation of their king's will and power. This was a fact that far too many younger devils forgot according to Ajuka as Ranma had heard the satan complain to his mother. One's peerage was supposed to provide one with trusted advisors and helpers. Devils that you knew you could count on to watch your back. This was combined with a need to restore the devil race from its depleted numbers to create the current Evil Piece system.

Unfortunately, something had to create a problem in the system. From what Ranma had overheard through the years that something for the Evil Piece system was in fact the Rating Games. The start of the Rating Games came from duels and honor skirmishes that used to routinely break out among the various devil clans. Ajuka and Falbium had worked out the system so that devils could settle disputes without resulting in one of the devils in the dispute dying. It also would serve as a way to market the Evil Piece system.

It was a huge success in lowing devil mortality and in popularizing the Evil Piece system. It was also a problem because the Rating Game became one of the primary considerations for most devils when it came to creating their peerage. The second biggest consideration that many young devils seemed to have for the peerage was fetish fuel. Sport abilities or looks were what most of Ranma's so called peers valued and then some devils wondered why the number of Strays was on the rise.

Ranma couldn't afford to think like that with his peerage. Grandfather Sitri had made something clear to Ranma years ago. Everyone had their role to play and Ranma's role was to be Sona's iron fist. He could have any career he wanted, but he also had a role. Clan Sitri had 60 Legiones vassal clans and Ranma was destined to lead them in battle if Clan Sitri was ever forced to muster its strength.

Devils had a seemingly schizophrenic approach when it came to power and one's class. Personal power counted a great deal with the general categories of Ultimate, High, Middle, and Low class coming into play. One's titles tended to be linked to one's personal strength. The exception to this were the inherited titles of the Pillars where one could have a power lower or higher than what one's noble rank would indicated. It was seen as a failing on the devil's part to be less powerful than their inherited rank suggested.

There was also a big emphasis on a devil's clan with clans being noted for different things. Clans were ranked by aggregate power of the devils in and directly sworn to the clan. The most powerful clans were the Palatini and the Comitatenses strength clans. These were the clans strong enough to merit being the direct vassals of a Satan. The only real difference between the two was that the Palatini were Pillar clans and the Comitatenses did not have clan heads in the Conclave of Pillars. Next came the Legiones rank clans who were sworn to the Palatini and Comitatenses. These clans in turn had cohort rank clans sworn to them with bottom ranked clans known as maniple clans sworn to the cohort clans.

However, this seeming dichotomy disappeared when one considered a very critical fact. Clans were sworn to other clans and eventually to the Satans. Individuals were sworn to parts of a clan and owed their loyalty ultimately to the clan head. A person's noble rank outside of those connected to the position of clan head were more a social badge of recognition to devils showcasing a person's power. That's why devils that joined the service of another clan had to renounce their old clan even if they kept their family name. No devil could serve two masters.

Ranma's future role in the clan was one of the reasons why he was so picky about who he offered a chance to be a member of his peerage. They had to be people he could rely on when the going got tough and they needed to be willing to become strong enough to deter would be threats away. A martial artist fit the bill perfectly in Ranma's mind.

* * *

Ryoga was sitting around his campfire trying not to feel depressed. Once again, he was lost in the world without a clue where he was. The teachers in school never mentioned anything about a desert on Kyushu. It was hard not to feel depressed when his canteen was out of water and there were no wild animals around to catch. Ryoga silently munched on some beans wondering how he always got into these situations.

Oh right, he got into these situations because karma and the kami were out to get him. Ryoga really wanted to know what god thought it would be a hoot to give the ability to randomly teleport to unknown locations to someone who has trouble knowing where they're going. The fanged wander used to get depressed about his bad luck. Now that Ryoga knew the truth he was irritated. This wasn't people playing tricks on him. His inability to find his way wasn't because of a misprinted map.

The chilly evening breeze of the desert made Ryoga grab his blanket and wrap it around himself tighter. Was this really what he was going to have to look forward to for the rest of his life? Why had he been cursed by the heavens to be so alone? It had been a day and he hadn't seen one sign that any other person had been in the area recently. It was a scene that he was depressingly familiar with in his short life.

"Damn it." Ryoga quietly muttered to himself. It was like a damn burst in his heart as soon as the words left the boy's lips. Ryoga leaned his head back and roared out to the heavens, "Damn it all to Hell! I never deserved these curses. Do you get some sort of sick amusement over watching my suffering? Well guess what, I'm through being your whipping boy!"

Ryoga grabbed his backpack and riffled through it to find the flyer Ranma had given him. The sigil on the flyer glowed with a blue light that almost seemed to pulsate in the boy's hands. Ryoga lifted the flyer out of his backpack and focused all his will on summoning Ranma. A giant blue circle appeared floating a few inches off of the ground in front of Ryoga just as the fanged boy had hoped.

Seconds later, Ranma appeared in front of Ryoga with his devil wings showing. Ranma quickly spotted Ryoga and simply said, "You've summoned me again Ryoga. Is there a wish you desire for me to fulfill? Anything you want that is within my considerable power to grant is yours if you can pay the price for it."

Ryoga looked Ranma firmly in the eyes and inquired, "Is the alternative payment option for the wish we talked about last time still available?"

There was a somewhat dull look on Ranma's face as if he was trying to recall what Ryoga was talking about. Ranma shrugged his shoulders and said, "Perhaps. The question I have is do you understand what you're offering?" Ranma had figured out exactly why Ryoga had called him as soon as he saw the fanged lost boy. He just wanted to make sure that Ryoga would have no regrets with his decision.

The lost boy let out a deep breath as he reached the point of no return and spoke. "Will you get me training in using Sinbad's Astrolabe and cure my direction issues if I agree to give up my humanity and serve you as a devil?"

Ranma grinned victoriously and spoke. "That deal is still good." He then summoned a rook piece and spoke in a formal manner to start the ritual. "I am Ranma Sitri of the noble House Sitri. It is my judgement that you are worthy of transcending your transient mortal flesh and walking this world as a devil. Do you Ryoga Hibiki accept my judgement?"

Ryoga fell to one knee because of the magic in the air and reflexively bowed his head. "I accept Ranma."

The rook piece floated from Ranma's hand to Ryoga's heart. Ranma spoke again, "From this day forward until your last I bequeath unto you the gift of devilhood. As my Rook, you shall be counted among my companions taking joy in all that I love and scorning all that I despise. So I have commanded, so shall it be done!"

It was difficult for Ryoga to describe how it felt to be reincarnated. He felt nothing as the rook piece merged with his body. However, he felt a sudden jolt and a sharp pain in his chest just after the last of the rook entered him. Then there came an empty numbness in Ryoga's heart like he had been hit with a massive dose of the most powerful anesthesia on the planet. Ice seemed to flow through Ryoga's veins as all the warmth in his body seemed to be driven out. Cold soon gave way to empty numbness leaving Ryoga with no sensation of his own body. It was only because something seemed to be holding him up that he did not crumple to the floor like a doll with its strings cut. Fear started to creep in for a bit as Ryoga found he was unable to use his senses.

A flash of light caught Ryoga's attention before he started to panic. It took Ryoga a few seconds refocus after the flash. Part of him really wished he could just be knocked unconscious as his body ached like he had spent all day fighting. The lost boy's mind was disoriented and unfocused as if suffering from sleep deprivation. It took Ryoga a few more seconds to even realize that he was on his knees and that someone was holding him. Good thing too because Ryoga felt so exhausted. A soothing voice whispered to Ryoga. "Shush I've got you. Go to sleep Ryoga and everything will be better."

Ranma held his new rook in his arms with his wings extended over the reborn devil as if they were a blanket. It wasn't for a lark that Ajuka labeled what his Evil Pieces did as 'reincarnating' a devil. Every single cell in a being's body was altered during the reincarnation process. Ranma didn't know a lot about the actual process like most devils. However, he did know that even perfectly healthy individuals who were reincarnated were left clinically dead for a few seconds during the process.

It the responsibility of all Kings to make sure that their new peerage members was safe and able to recover from the transformation stress. Ranma pumped as much mana into Ryoga as their skin to skin contact let him. He also cast a small spell to put Ryoga to sleep while his body recovered from reincarnation shock. Ranma lowered himself so that he was sitting on the ground with Ryoga lying against him.

Thank the original satans that Grandfather Sitri insisted on everyone in the clan having basic first aid training. Ranma was able to use that training to judge that Ryoga would need about 20 minutes of mana infusion before he would be good to use a teleportation seal. Ranma could cut that time down drastically, but he had zero desire to lay naked next to a naked guy. The king pulled out his DevilBerry and used his waiting time to book a train ride back to Sitri territory in the Underworld. Ranma also booked a medical checkup for Ryoga. Hopefully, Ryoga would be fully registered and have a clean bill of health by the time he woke up.

* * *

Saar Sitri looked down at the sleeping rook on the examination table after he magically scanned the newest member of the Sitri clan. Well, newest until the lady currently in labor gave birth down in the maternity ward. Two new clan members in a month was very good growth for a devil clan. Saar finished his scan and turned to face his grandson who was calmly sitting in a chair of the examination room.

Ranma looked at his grandfather and said, "So how's my newest peerage member?"

With a smile Saar answered, "Your new rook is in good condition overall Ranma. The brain issues you spoke to me about were corrected in the reincarnation process. There are some signs that the boy had some deficiencies in his diet prior to reincarnating. Not too surprising given his previous condition and his sacred gear. I don't see that becoming an issue in the future given that he'll now have access to a regular balanced diet. I also saw that you put a seal on your rook's sacred gear."

Ranma nodded his head. "I didn't want people mistaking him as a stray until he gets Sinbad's Astrolabe under his control. It's just a standard restriction seal similar to the ones Ryu and I use in our training. Can we wake Ryoga up now Grandfather?"

A slightly mischievous twinkle appeared in Saar's eyes as he nodded his head. The Sitri clan head snapped his fingers causing a small flash of blue light to appear. Ryoga woke up immediately afterwards and blinked his eyes. He then groggily sat up trying to place where he was. "Huh? Where am I?"

Saar cheerfully said, "Why you're in the Underworld. Where else would a young devil like you be?"

Ryoga looked shocked for a moment and muttered, "Underworld? Young devil, what do you." Then the memories came flooding back to Ryoga and he remembered the pact he had made with Ranma. Ryoga's eyes widened and he muttered, "Oh." He then spotted Ranma and said, "Then I take it that I'm you're servant now."

Ranma nodded his head and replied, "Technically correct. However, I prefer to think of my peerage as my personal companions that I call the shots for the group with then actual servants. My grandfather here has just given you a clean bill of health. You'll now only get lost if you want to get lost. I was also able to put a seal on your Sacred Gear since you're a devil now. I'll take it off during training and reapply the seal afterwards until you get control over it."

The younger Sitri walked over to Ryoga, turned to face his grandfather, and formally spoke. "Lord Saar Sitri, Prince of Clan Sitri and Commander of 60 Legiones, I your vassal offer you greetings. Presented here with me today is the newly turned Ryoga Hibiki whom I have selected to become my Rook. Will you grant me the boon of adding Ryoga into Clan Sitri?"

Saar turned to Ranma and spoke his part of the ritual. "Lord Ranma Sitri, Margrave in Clan Sitri and Heir of the Blood, I your lord accept your greetings. The boon you ask of me is hereby granted." Saar paused for a second to turn and look at Ryoga. "I welcome you Ryoga Hibiki into Clan Sitri as per my right as Prince of Clan Sitri. From this day forth you shall freely be given succor and sustenance from the largess of the clan. I ask only that you serve the clan and do not let your actions besmirch the honor of the clan."

Ryoga was surprised to see Saar visibly relax and sigh. Saar then jovially said, "Now that the proper forms have been fulfilled why don't we all head up to my office and celebrate Ranma getting a new member of his peerage? Do you like alcoholic drinks or non-alcoholic drinks Ryoga? I prefer a good scotch or a gin myself, but I do have a decent selection of sake. After all, if it wasn't for sake I wouldn't have my grandson."

Ranma rolled his eyes as his grandfather brought up his customary comment about sake again. He said it every time he brought someone new to one of his offices to check out his drink selection without fail. Grandfather also had semi-embarrassing stories for Serafall and Sona he loved to share involving the stables and the pool respectively.

The newbie devil in the room looked at the two other devils in shock. "Hugh?" Unintelligently came out of Ryoga's mouth much to the boy's embarrassment. Ryoga then inquired, "What's going on? First you guys were talking one very formally and now you're both acting completely differently."

Saar turned to Ranma and said, "I think you should field this one Ranma. After all, you are Ryoga's king and thus responsible for teaching him about being a devil."

"I was getting to it Grandfather." Ranma replied in a relaxed manner. He then turned to his new companion and said, "That formal talk you just heard was Grandfather and I officially bringing you into the Sitri Clan per Sitri tradition. Every devil clan has their own way of officially bringing someone into their clan in the eyes of the clan. You became a registered devil in the eyes of the Underworld government when I brought you into the Underworld through the regular channels. However, that doesn't really mean a blessed thing unless a clan recognizes you as a member. Now you're in Clan Sitri and are legally recognized in the Underworld and the wider supernatural world as Ryoga Hibiki of Clan Sitri."

A small chuckle escaped from Saar's lips and he spoke. "I'm not really big on the elaborate traditions like my wife or particularly concerned with getting formal things done perfectly like my dear Sona. But, I do think that traditions are generally important. They help keep us grounded and remind us of what is important. Granted, traditions do need to be changed from time to time. But only into a form that is more helpful than they were before. Now enough chatting in the exam room, this is a place for patients." With that said, Saar led the boys up to his office.

* * *

Saar's office was the standard opulence of any high class devil's domain with a home touch. Portraits of his family were prominent in the room's decoration. The boys had left to go back to Japan leaving Saar alone nursing his scotch. The computer at his desk had an email notice that the low-class mother in the maternity ward had successfully given birth to a healthy baby girl.

The Sitri sigil in the corner of the office activated and Sheli soon emerged. She walked over to her husband, stopped just out of arms reach, and put her hands on her hips. "Well you're hitting the bottle early night." She said in a slightly annoyed tone.

With a shrug of his shoulders Saar replied, "We've got two new clan members today. One of them happens to be Ranma's rook. That calls for a celebration in my book."

Sheli rolled her eyes and replied, "That's a good reason I suppose. It would be better if you didn't find a reason to drink every other night."

Saar took a sip of his scotch and said, "I don't see the problem. It's biologically impossible for a devil to become an alcoholic and with my magic I can sober up whenever I need to without having to worry about a hangover."

The lady devil took a sensuous step towards her husband. She gently put her fingers on Saar's chest in a caressing manner and seductively whispered, "The problem my dear is that you can't get rid of the alcohol on your breath." Sheli pulled away and then continued speaking in a dead pan tone. "It really ruins the mood when I want you to fuck me."

Sheli quickly pulled out a nearby chair and sat across from her husband. She then asked, "Speaking of fucking, what are we going to do about getting Sona to make the twin back beast with someone?"

Saar snorted and replied, "Well, I can tell you what I'm not going to do. I'm not going to be trying to arrange any more marriages for Sona. It took me years to find a spare male heir of the appropriate station whose clan leader was willing to accept a matrilineal marriage. Then Sona manages to wiggle her way out of the engagement with a game of chess. It's for the best in light of recent discoveries, but acceptable husbands that won't earn Sona attacks from clan enemies don't exactly grow on trees."

It was a no win scenario for Saar as the head of Clan Sitri. Socially, Sona must marry a pureblood devil from a high class family. There would be blood in the water for the political enemies of the clan if Sona was the last Pillar head of the clan. In the eyes of the more aristocratic clans the fact that a half-breed, as Saar's spies reported them referring to Ranma behind closed doors, was Sona's heir presumptive already put Clan Sitri on the defensive. The facts that Sona was a young maiden with centuries of childbearing years and that Serafall originally came from Clan Sitri where what kept the vultures at bay.

On the other hand, Saar knew that letting Sona marry or at least breed with a pureblood devil would insure a sterile grandchild. Having the primary line of the family die off like that would be more damaging to the Sitri Clan then being forced into being a Comitatenses strength Extra devil clan would. That's not counting the possibility of such a line extinction triggering a civil war in the clan between Ranma's children or possibly grandchildren over who became the new clan head. What kind of father would he be if he let such a foreseeable problem land in Sona's lap?

Sheli folded her hands and said, "You know, Sona doesn't have to marry to have children of her own." It was obvious to Saar that his wife was suggesting the idea they had haphazardly cooked up before their meeting with the satans. It called for Sona to take a non-pureblood lover and pass the child off as a pureblood.

Saar shook his head. "I think that idea is rather off the wall even for one of mine dear. Just because she was against an arraigned marriage doesn't mean she'll be against marriage in general. I can't see our Sona not wanting to marry the father of her children. Besides, Sona having a child by an unknown father would bring every spy from the other clans over to her to figure out who the father was. Such a deception would have to be kept for centuries. One slip up and the clan's situation would be worse than if we were resigned to be a Comitatenses clan. I refuse to leave Sona with such a volatile situation on her hands."

The lady of the clan folded her hands in her lap and shook her head. "Saar, you're underestimating Sona's abilities. We're talking about our daughter who got out of her engagement at 12 years old. Once Sona has all of the facts I'm sure she'll come up with a similar plan and make it iron clad. And while we're on the topic of volatile situations for Sona, I want to know why I haven't heard of any consideration of marriage proposals for Ranma. He's our grandson and should have a proper wife arraigned for him." There was a scolding look on Sheli's face when she finished speaking.

Now that situation had Saar wanting to reach for another shot of scotch. Ranma was the son of a satan, an Heir of the Blood, he had been born a Baron in Clan Sitri, advanced to being a Margrave in Clan Sitri by his 15th birthday, and was repeatedly paying one of the highest tithes for his age group. Normally, a young devil in such a situation would have the pick of the lot for potential brides. The problem was that there weren't many potential brides in Ranma's age group that were socially acceptable for one of his station. When you factored in the need to keep Ranma in clan Sitri instead of marrying him out to an heiress of another clan the pool got even smaller. Girls who weren't already spoke for and whose clan leader would let them marry someone who wasn't a pureblood turned the option pool to zero.

It was even worse for Saar since he couldn't really look outside the pillar clans since it would be unthinkable for the child of a satan to marry so low. Playing on Ranmas halfblood status, as much as Saar didn't want to do, would only open up the Comitatenses clans. That opened up another headache since the heads of those clans would undoubtedly try to use Ranma's connection to Serafall to either get their clans reinstated as Pillar clans or try to get Ranma to inherit clan Sitri.

Saar gave his wife the stink eye and replied, "You know the headaches I've got because of Ranma's circumstances on that account. He's just a troublesome as Sona in the marriage department. Bless it, I have half a mind to just marry Sona to Ranma and prep the clan to become a Comitatenses clan. If I do that I can at least avoid a civil war in the clan occurring in a generation or two down the line."

Sheli shook with mirth at what Saar was telling her. A chuckle escaped her lips and she said, "Well at least that way we don't have to worry about Serafall scaring off the bride or the groom." Sheli got up as she continued speaking. "It's getting late dear. Let's return home and have dinner."

* * *

Author's note: before anyone points it out, it's not a mistake that Ranma's official rank as a high class devil is "Margrave in Clan Sitri" instead of being "Margrave of Clan Sitri". I'm having it that clan heads uses the formula of –noble title- of Clan X. Heirs have the special title "Heir of Clan X" and the heir's immediate successors have the special title "Heir of the Blood". All other nobles use the formula –noble title- in Clan X. This shows that they have a high rank but supposedly can only exercise that rank in that particular clan. It's a legal fiction and the devil is in the details.

As for the arraigned marriage attempts, Saar and Sheli have a real headache on their hand. They've got to balance social demands, potential threats to the clan, and insuring that Sona's kids can have kids of their own. It is slim pickings for any noble devil clan of high society. Let's use Zeoticus and Venelana's situation with Rias that everyone whose read High School DxD is familiar with. They don't know about the breeding issue, but most of the other problems exist for them. They've got to find someone who can marry into the Gremory clan who is socially acceptable. In come's Zeoticus's buddy Lord Phenex whose got three sons and an unknown number of grandkids. Riser is the third son whose oldest brother, the heir, has kids of his own so he isn't inheriting anything important among the Phenex. It works out great for the two clan heads. Zeoticus gets a socially acceptable stud for his daughter to have an heir with and Lord Phenex gets to give his son more than he would have gotten as the superfluous spare.


	4. Chapter 4

Genma was sitting across the table from his son and the boy's newest peerage member Ryoga with a grumpy look on his face. Genma huffed and muttered, "I see you've got a new devil companion boy. Where is he supposed to stay?"

Ranma smirked and replied, "At his family's house. He may be part of my peerage and my responsibility in supernatural eyes. However, Ryoga is still a minor under his parents care according to Japanese law and is their responsibility in mortal eyes. I just wanted to let you know that Ryoga was in the know. Also, I was hoping you could give him some training pointers. Ryoga's got a family style, but he needs to adapt it to his devil physiology."

An annoyed growl came out of Genma's mouth when he heard that. "And just why should I do that boy? My time is valuable and I am not a full time martial arts instructor." Part of Genma sincerely wished he ran a dojo like Soun. However, Genma knew his temperament would make it hard for him to continuously teach large numbers of people the basics like most instructors had to do for a living.

Ryu heard that comment as he entered the room to raid the refrigerator. He snarked out, "I never would have figured you weren't a martial arts instructor given all the training you give us."

Genma rolled his eyes and shot back, "Full time martial arts instructor brat. That full time qualifier is very important. Training you and Ranma is my responsibility. I don't have a responsibility to train Ryoga so why should I? After all, aren't you two devils always saying that your services are available for the right price? Why should I do something for free when you won't?"

Ranma looked Genma in the eye and said, "I'll pay you to mentor Ryoga for me Pops."

This caused a twitch to appear on Genma's face and he quickly rebutted. "If I've said it once I've said it a hundred times Ranma. I won't take any money from Clan Sitri. Its bad luck for a human to use hell money in regular transactions." Part of Genma's annoyance was over his real concern for the bad luck involved with using hell money. However, he was also annoyed that Ranma was asking him to train Ryoga instead of asking for permission to train Ryoga himself. How was Ranma supposed to run a dojo in the future if he couldn't teach anyone anything? Ranma hadn't mastered all of the advanced parts of the Saotome School, but he knew enough to teach the basics.

A small smirk appeared on Ranma's face as he made his counter. "Who said anything about Clan Sitri money Pops? In case you forgot, I get paid by humans for granting their wishes. I've got a fair amount of yen in my personal Swiss Bank account that hasn't been converted into shekels yet. I can have some of that money wired over to your bank before I have it deposited into my account at the Sheol Central Bank."

That earned another twitch on Genma's face. He didn't like the fact that his 15 year old son was making more money working part time as a moving company than he did at his job. It was rather embarrassing as a man which is why Genma usually liked to ignore Ranma's devil business. The money was rather tempting and it would be nice to hit the bars a little more often. On the other hand, how was Ranma supposed to run a dojo if he couldn't teach basic reconditioning to a new devil?

Finally Genma made up his mind and spoke. "I'll give you mentoring lessons on how to train Ryoga and any future peerage members you get Ranma for say 7000 yen a week."

Ranma quick countered, "5000 yen a week pops. I was initially going to pay you to train Ryoga yourself. You're leaving most of the work on me and you'll have to teach me how to pass on what I know eventually."

"Its 6000 yen a week boy for the lessons. You'd be a failure as a devil and as a martial artist to leave your new peerage member untrained. How much will it cost you to use the Sitri's resources to get Ryoga training?"

The devil stuck his hand out and replied, "It's a deal pops."

Genma took Ranma's offered hand and the two of them shook on it. Both of them were happy for different reasons. Ranma was happy because Ryoga would get the training he'd need to adjust to being a devil. Genma was happy because Ranma would be one step closer to running a dojo. The extra booze money was just icing on the cake for the sole human in the apartment.

A Sitri clan seal appeared in the corner of the room seconds after the duo made their agreement. Everyone turned to the sigil to see who was coming in and seconds later they saw Serafall in one of her typical magical girl costumes. Serafall eagerly looked around the room and her eyes widen in happiness when she spotted Ranma. She cried out as she tackled him into a hug, "Ran-chan! Oh I missed you so much son."

Ryoga blinked his eyes in shock as he turned to look at Ryu. He then whispered, "Is that Ranma's mother?"

Ryu nodded his head and replied, "Yep. She also happens to be one of the 4 satans and has enough power that she could completely destroy Japan by herself without any trouble." Ryoga's eyes bulged out in shock when he heard that. Not that Ryu could blame the new devil. Serafall's usual cheerful, outgoing, and slightly childish personally was at odds with the powerful and devious warrior she truly was.

Serafall happily rubbed her cheek against Ranma's as she squeezed him with enough force to break a regular human's bones. To Ranma the hug just felt a little firm. Serafall gushed out, "Oh Ran-chan I missed you so much son. I really wish you would just stay in the Underworld where it's safe and I can keep an eye on you."

There was a faint dusting of pink on Ranma's cheeks when he heard that. He quickly replied, "But how can I become strong or find good peerage members if I stay in the house all the time?"

Serafall blinked her eyes in surprise as she thought about that. She pulled back from Ranma, put her hands across her chest, placed a finger by her mouth, and started tapping her foot. After a second she shrugged her shoulders and said, "You have a point there Ran-chan. Speaking of peerages, where is that new rook of yours? I want to make sure he's good enough for my son."

Ryu took a step away from Ryoga not wanting to get caught in Serafall's way. The Leviathan quickly spotted the new face in the room and her eyes narrowed. She marched over to Ryoga and circled around him several times with an inspecting eye. This was naturally rather unnerving for Ryoga as he didn't want to know what would happen to him if he wasn't found 'good enough' in Serafall's eyes. Finally, she stopped circling the newest devil and nodded her head.

"I think he'll do with some training Ran-chan. However, can you please keep an eye out for a magical girl or two to add to your peerage? Some cute and innocent magical girl power should mix well with the hard and honed martial artist power you've currently got."

Ranma fought the urge to roll his eyes and nodded his head. "Mom, I promise that if I ever encounter any real magical girls who would be willing to become devils and I have pieces available for them I will make the offer." He had found that it was better to just roll with mom when she was in one of these moods. Besides, how likely was he to find and actual magical girl? A magician was rare enough, but they tended to despise the concept of a magical girl. Then there was the fact that most magicians didn't want to become devils. Access to devil resources yes, but they typically had a pride in being humans who had master the 'secret arts'. It could be centuries before he met someone who met all criteria and by then his peerage should be complete.

The cosplaying satan nodded her head and said, "Good!" she then pointed her magic wand at Ranma and said, "I'm holding you to your promise Ranma. A devil's word is their bond after all." She finished speaking with a slightly childish giggle.

Genma watched his son and one time lover's interactions calmly and silently. Serafall was always a complicated issue for the older martial artist. One the one hand, she gave him Ranma and that was something he'd forever be grateful for until his dying day. On the other hand, he had Ranma because he had gotten completely drunk and had been thrown into the deep end of the supernatural world. It was the lack of self-control that really bothered Genma since he had always prided himself on holding his liquor. The two of them only had Ranma to connect them.

Serafall's eyes briefly landed on Genma and then she hurriedly shifted her gaze away. Genma was not an easy subject for the usually cheerful satan to dwell on. He wasn't a bad human, but he also wasn't a person she would normally want to spend time with either. She had never met him before that fateful night and the two of them didn't really have the same interests. Their only real point of commonality was Ranma. It was always easier for her to ignore his existence and in a century the problem will have sorted itself out naturally for her.

The satan turned to face Ranma again and said, "It's been so long since we had some mother son time. How about we all go out for brunch?" Serafall's heart warmed when she saw the smile on Ranma's face. Spending time with Ranma and the friends he had collected into his peerage was the only thing in her mind that beat spending time with Sona and her sister's peerage.

* * *

School came with its relentless inevitability that it always does. It was surprising for many of the students to see Ryoga Hibiki in class again so soon after his last visit. That surprise became near outright panic when they saw Ryoga walking around the school getting to where he needed to go with every other student.

Finally, school was let out which everyone could agree was a good thing. Ranma and his peerage made their way over to a park. Ranma then used some magic to cast an illusion over a section of the park to give the trio some privacy. He then turned to face Ryoga and said, "Sit down. We're going to have a bit of lecture."

Ryoga quickly sat down and Ranma began to teach. "All beings have energy inside them. You may have heard a few different terms for this energy such as Qi, Chi, Ki, and mana to cite a few names. This is somewhat correct, but it is also very inaccurate. There is actually a range of related energies that all beings have and they have these energies in different portions. It's sort of like the electromagnetic spectrum they talk about in science class."

Ryu piped in stating, "Some reincarnated scientists have been talking about an Animakenetic spectrum in recent years that all the known mystical energies belong to like the electromagnetic spectrum. There are still some problems with the theory, but even Lord Beelzebub agrees that it is currently the best explanation we have on the different energies." Both Ranma and Ryoga gave Ryu so questioning looks. Ryu looked a little sheepish and said, "You're not the only one who reads the Modern Magic Journal we've got a subscription to Ranma."

Ranma shook his head and replied, "I'm happy that you're reading that magazine Ryu. However, Ryoga here is a complete noob when it comes to the supernatural so let's try to stick to the basics for the time being." He then turned his attention to the rook and said, "Let's get back on track. There are several energies in your body that you can control and harness with training. Training your control and reserves with one type of energy causes marginal improvement for all the different energies. However, in order to get truly noticeable improvements the particular energy in question has to be trained.

Ryoga got a half hour lecture about the different types of energies he'd be getting training in. Specifically, Ranma lectured about touki and the variant of mana used by devils. Touki was really fascinating to Ryoga since it was what serious martial artists actually tapped into when they talked about using their chi. Ranma had also mentioned that it was important to remember who he was talking to before using certain terms.

The Sitri clan was one of the more powerful clans in the Underworld. Ranma, by both birth and title, was someone that other devils would take note of and judge the Sitri clan by. Ryoga's actions now reflected on both Ranma and the Sitri Clan. Ranma refused to allow Ryoga to besmirch the honor of the Sitri clan by sounding like an ignorant fool.

Once the lecture was over, Ranma took a deep breath and said, "It's now time for us to move on to the practical parts of the lesson. Let's start by having you activate your Sacred Gear. Focus your mind on the thought of concentrating all the power you control into one spot. When you concentrate enough energy for a period of time it will cause your Sacred Gear to manifest."

Ryoga was used to the idea of focusing his mind thanks to his martial arts training. He imagined all of his strength compressed into a ball in his chest waiting for him to use. There was an itching sensation in Ryoga's right palm a few seconds after he started to focus. A small beam of light erupted from his hand and shaped itself into a silver astrolabe with archaic Arabic script the size of a large watch. Ryoga looked down at the astrolabe in shock. He muttered, "Is this?"

Ranma and Ryu both nodded their heads then Ranma said, "Yes. That's your Sacred Gear manifested Ryoga. Now that you've summoned it for the first time it shouldn't act out nearly as much and with practice will be completely under your control. Here," Ranma tossed Ryoga a credit card and then continued. "I want you to use Sinbad's Astrolabe to travel to a place away from here. You'll use it by directing your will into it and it will respond to that. Once you get there, buy a cheap souvenir, and then return. That credit card will convert the money in the account to any local currency."

Ryoga nodded his head and started muttering to himself, "Somewhere other than here. Take me somewhere other than-" He was cut off in mid-sentence as Sinbad's Astrolabe activated.

Both Ryu and Ranma turned to look at each other in astonishment. There had been no clue that Sinbad's Astrolabe was activating what so ever. No flashing lights, no magical build up. It was like watching a tv show where a character is in a frame and then removed from the following frames of the scene. A nervous sweat started to form on both devils as the implications of this Sacred Gear were fully hammered home to them.

Ryu nervously spoke, "Ranma? I say this with the utmost respect. But, your ancestors were blithering morons for disregarding that Sacred Gear."

Ranma dead paned right back, "I know. We're lucky an exorcist never got his hands on that Sacred Gear or Devilkind might not currently exist."

The duo silently waited a few minutes before Ryoga reappeared without warning. He was wearing a big sombrero on his head. Ryoga had a confused look on his face and handed Ranma a receipt. "Here Ranma I got the receipt. However, I can't make any sense out of it. Is there another Japanese alphabet besides the 4 we covered already in school?"

It only took a second for Ranma to recognize the lettering as the Latin alphabet. However, he couldn't read the language since it wasn't Ecclesiastical Latin or English. Ranma turned to Ryoga and said, "There isn't a 5th Japanese alphabet Ryoga. You were in a place where people spoke a different language. It's a basic magical ability in all devils to understand and be understood by anyone speaking a language even if the devil doesn't actually know the language. However, the magic is based on the brain according to Grandmother. That's why our language ability only applies to the living spoken word. A TV program in another language or something written down would need to be translated in order for us to understand it."

He then pulled out his DevilBerry and selected an app from it. "It used to be that I'd have to use a spell to translate everything. But, devil technology has thankfully advanced." Ranma looked at the receipt on his phone using the phone's camera. The app translated everything and Ranma's eyes widened slightly when he read it. "Bless it Ryoga. You teleported yourself to Oaxaca in Mexico! That means you covered the entire Pacific Ocean twice in just a couple of minutes. For an unbound teleport, that is ridiculously far for distance."

Ryu added his two yen at this point. "That's not taking into account that Ryoga's energy reserves have barely been touched. With his current reserves he should only be able to go a couple of kms using a bounded teleport and not be able to use a normal unbounded teleportation spell. That's only going one way and Ryoga did two teleports close together." Ryu then shook his head seeing this as yet more proof that previous generations of devils had been utter fools.

* * *

Each of the 4 Satan Palace Complexes was a vast unique feat of architectural wonder. To Serafall, all the grandness of her Leviathan Palace might as well be dog shit. Serafall was currently floating in one of her many indoor pools that were incrusted with precious metals and gems looking up at the masterwork frescos on the ceiling. A scowl marred her face and pool's surface became hazy from the warm water meeting the air she was unintentionally cooling with her magic.

"Bless it," Serafall muttered to herself. "There are days I really wish I had taken a dive and let Grayfia have the Leviathan title. But no, my blessed pride had to get in the way and I refused to lose the 'honor' of being one the four satans." Be a satan was no picnic and carried many responsibilities. The responsibilities she could handle. Serafall had been raised for decades to be the Sitri Clan Head so she had the training for the position.

It was the isolation that Serafall hated as a satan. There was a barrier between her and her family that hadn't existed when she had been Serafall Sitri. As for the Leviathan clan, that relationship was very glacial. None of the original clan retainers or vassals was happy with having an outsider come in and take over the clan. Unlike the other satans, the Leviathan Satan during the Civil War was a quarter way decent with his servants developing some loyalty. They obeyed her, but they didn't like her and most likely never would. Most of the devils who later joined Clan Leviathan as retainers or vassals couldn't really be trusted by Serafall. Too many boot lickers and spies among them. Serafall was forced to be content with the fact that her personal servants were not spies or about to turn on her.

Serafall's one hope of being accepted by Clan Leviathan was through the children. The children grew up only knowing her as the Leviathan and she had made sure to treat them well. Serafall had honestly started the TV show Miracle Levia-tan as a way to connect with all of the children of the clan. Part of Serafall was surprised that no one seemed to have picked up on that fact. She liked the idea of dressing up as a magical girl and loved the whole magical girl concept. However, being an actress on top of running a clan and being a satan was a massive amount of work! It had a great payoff in terms of PR and additional revenues for Clan Leviathan, but it wasn't easy on her.

Still, the thought of children was a bittersweet one for Serafall when it came to the Leviathan Clan. It was wonderful that the clan's children were looking up to her. However, it also reminded Serafall that she didn't get to spend nearly enough time with Ranma or with Sona. Her busy schedule meant that she didn't have much time to be with either of them. Then there was the fact that as the Leviathan Satan she couldn't spend much of her free time at the Sitri compound. If she did, political enemies would attack her with accusations of favoritism.

The devil queen closed her eyes and imagined what life would have been like if she had taken a dive and let Grayfia become the new satan. She would be the Clan Head of Clan Sitri. Her father had been planning on passing her the title once the Civil War ended back then. It had been a proud day for her when her father had confided that he felt she had learned all she needed to run the clan. With that and the fact that she had eclipsed him as a fighter it would have been a perfect time for him to retire. A giggle escaped Serafall's lips when she figured her father wouldn't have chewed her out for forcing him to stay as the Clan Head like he did when he found out she was the new Leviathan.

Life would have been a lot less stressful for Serafall since she would have only been a clan leader. Abet an important one that would have had to be respected. There would have been fewer concerns in the previous centuries about Clan Sitri's future before Sona's birth if she had been Princess of Clan Sitri. A young leader without a clear heir was always better than an older leader without an heir. Once Sona and Ranma had been born she could have spent some time with them every day. That would have been wonderful.

Serafall was pulled from her daydreams by a magical tug from one of the palace's wards. She frowned for a second and then relaxed as she learned that Sirzechs had entered the palace wanting to talk to her. The thought of putting on a robe entered and then left her mind. Instead, she simply had the pool created a foam of bubbles and moved herself over to one of the relaxation alcoves on one side of the pool. A smirk appeared on Serafall's face as she positioned herself so as to be technically modest and yet seductively alluring at the same time. Might as well remind Sirzechs-chan what he once could have had and yet would never have now.

Soon enough, Sirzechs made his way to the pool and found Serafall lounging in an alcove of the pool. It was a tantalizing sight that would have driven lesser devils wild with lust. However, Sirzechs was able to keep focused thanks to his willpower and the purpose behind his visit to Serafall's palace. He humorously spoke up, "Nice evening for a bath I take it Serafall?"

"Yep," Serafall cheerfully replied and then continued to speak with her eyes closed. "So why are you hear Sirzechs-chan? Are you in the dog house and looking for a couch to crash on for the night?"

Sirzechs let out a self-deprecating chuckle at the joke and said, "No Serafall. If I was in the dog house I'd been locked in it." Privately, Sirzechs wondered if Serafall had found out about that little incident in the 1920s and really hoped she hadn't. It just wouldn't do if devils at large found out that his wife had literally shoved him into a dog house with a collar and doggie bowl with his name on it.

The Lucifer's face became void of all joy as he spoke. "I came to speak to you about arranging for Ranma to challenge Riser Phenex for-"

"Forget it Sirzechs." Serafall cut Sirzechs off and opened her eyes to glare at him. "I'm not involving my son in your sister's fiancé issues."

Sirzechs was gob smack for a second in disbelief at Serafall's announcement. He blinked his eyes for several seconds and then stuttered, "But Serafall, Ranma is."

"No!" Serafall firmly said as she looked at her friend with eyes that could liquefy nitrogen. "Get this through your head Sirzechs. My son, who happens to be your infernal son, is not some sort of get out of a slime bag's betrothal card for you to use. Might I remind you that Ranma and Rias can barely stand each other for Sona's sake? The enmity is more on Ranma's side I'll grant you then on Rias. However, anyone with any sense can tell that those two will not work together at this time and that it would be highly suspicious if Ranma was to try and claim her hand."

Part of Serafall did want Ranma and Rias to marry. They were both dear to her heart and she was sure that the duo could have learned to love each other in time. It's just that with how they were right now their rough spots would clash to create sparks. Rias thought that Ranma was a bit of a punk and rather uncouth for a devil of his rank. Ranma viewed Rias as a spoiled and lazy brat. Serafall couldn't really blame Ranma for that viewpoint. She was rather annoyed how Rias constantly complained about the engagement, but never seemed to actively working on a way out of it.

Sona figured out how to get out her betrothal when she was twelve. If Rias applied herself and her peerage to training then they would easily beat Riser. He might be something in the rookie rating game leagues, but that wasn't really saying much. Rias had the Power of Destruction for combat while her peerage had Holy magic, senjutsu, and two sacred gears that were ridiculously powerful. Kiba was a magical Swiss army knife while Gasper could stop time. Yet, all that potential was locked away and it seemed that Rias was banking on her father or her big brother to get her out of this mess.

Serafall hadn't been too thrilled about the engagement even before she found out about the fertility issue. She had thought that Zeoticus could have gotten a much better concession out of Lord Phenex when she first heard about the engagement. Still, it didn't involve her clan or vassals and Riser had been a halfway decent kid at the time so she kept her mouth shut. Things had changed since Serafall now knew that such a match would doom Rias's branch of the Gremory Clan. There was also the little fact that Riser was way too arrogant and self-important for his actual worth.

In a very calm manner she said, "Why don't you just have Riser killed Sirzechs?" Propaganda aside, it actually wasn't that hard to kill a member of the Phenex clan. Their regenerative abilities were tied to their mana reserves in addition to their mental states. A fair number of blood members of Clan Phenex had died in the Devil Civil War.

"Killing Riser isn't the problem Serafall. The problem is how to kill him without either drawing the ire of every clan head or triggering a feud between Clan Phenex and some other clan." Sirzechs talked about killing Riser like he was talking about taking out the trash. This was not the joyful big brother Sirzechs that Sona and Rias were used to. This was not the magnanimous Satan most devils were used to dealing with. Right now, Serafall was seeing the Sirzechs that had fought in the last days of the Great War and who had lead the Anti-Satan forces during the civil war.

It was not a side of Sirzechs that he let out or even near the surface often if he could help it. Serafall knew that because she was exactly like him in that regard. Truth was that neither of them would feel the least bit guilty or remorseful if they gave Riser a quick death or a slow agonizing one at this very moment. The only thing that kept either of them from acting was the concern that word of their killing Riser would get out. Killing one's subjects without a believably valid reason made it hard to have a long or stable reign.

Sirzechs sighed and said, "I just don't know what to do Serafall. Father is unintentionally sanctifying Clan Gremory with this marriage arrangement and I can't get him to stop. About the only thing I can think of is releasing your parents' findings. But, if I do that the information will get out and we'll likely have another civil war on our hands."

Serafall shrugged her shoulders and replied, "What did you expect Sirzechs-chan? Ever since we found out about the contingencies I've relooked at devil culture, the original parts and not the parts we aped from humans, and I've come to a realization. Devils were just a tool for the original Satans. Our culture was built to serve them. It was designed to keep us weak and at each other's throats so that the Satans would never have to worry about an internal threat even from each other. To the original satans, we were supposed to go extinct if they ever died in order to pay of our failures."

A somber look appeared on Serafall's face as she continued, "I know that a civil war is coming if the younger generation can't figure out a solution. We kept the devils as a species alive when our parents' generation unintentionally marched us towards extinction. Now we're the older generation and devils are once again facing a major hurtle to survival. All I can do at the moment is to try and delay the inevitable so that the younger generation has to chance to mature enough to win."


	5. Chapter 5

Ranma, Ryu, and Ryoga were in history class covering the Japanese participation in WWI when Ranma's eyes suddenly widened. Ryu turned to look at Ranma seconds later as he felt a large amount of mana being generated by his king. There was a brief flash of light and then everyone in the room besides the three devils was rendered catatonic.

Ranma turned to Ryu and said, "Use a hypnosis spell to convince everyone that the three of us were called away on an emergency that can have us back to school in just a day or two. After that, I want both of you to teleport to Ignis." Ranma created a teleportation sigil at his feet and disappeared in a flash of blue light.

Ryu sighed and muttered, "Really wish he'd give me a heads up on this sort of thing." He turned to Ryoga and said, "Welcome to one of the less glamourous duties of being in a peerage. Our king can leave his shit all over the place and we're expected to clean up after him."

Ryoga blinked his eyes and watched as Ryu handled the task of altering mortal minds. The rook asked, "Does this happened a lot?"

Ryu shrugged his shoulders and replied, "More than I'd like it to, but less than what most peerages have to put up with. Now watch and learn." Ryu proceeded to cast three different spells in quick succession. The pawn then turned to the rook and said, "The first spell alters the memory of anyone within hearing range or sight. The second spell tags any electronic recording device for scrubbing by the Underworld's counter-intelligence division. The final spell alters the memory of anyone who might have seen or heard electronic recordings. Always do those three in that order. Don't practice any of those spells without Ranma or me there to watch you."

Memory alteration spells always required precise control in order to be effective. Ryoga had been told that several times since he had become a devil. Without that control you might not change the memories you wanted or you might change memories you did not want to alter. Either way, it was a security risk. Calling the counter-intelligence division without a reason also didn't sound like a smart call. It was probably like making a prank phone call to the police.

A shiver ran down Ryoga's spine at the thought of demonic police. He had a few run-ins with the police in the past given his former lost ways. In some places the police had been helpful. However, there were other places which were probably other countries, where the police were downright hostile. Ryoga knew he might be playing on stereotypes when figured that devil police would be more terrible than he imagined. He'd just rather assume the worst in this instance and be happily surprised.

Ryu walked over to Ryoga and put his hand on his shoulder. "Okay, everything is safe here. Let's go see what Ranma wants now. I'll control the teleport." Ryu caused a Sitri Sigil to form on the floor surrounding the duo. The sigil glowed in mystical blue light for several seconds before a flash of light teleported the duo away from school. Another effect of the sigil flashing as it vanished with the devils was to end Ryu's spells. As far as the students were concerned the trio left after the teacher received a call from the principle telling them that Ryoga's parents had called wanting to see their son. They had requested that their son be escorted by two friends to make sure he got home and so naturally Ranma and Ryu had helped their friend out.

* * *

The two devils found themselves in an alley when they completed the teleport. Ryu instantly felt two ward spells that Ranma had obviously set. He quickly pumped his own mana into the spells thanks to long practice before he even knew for sure what the spells were. One was a ward that encouraged people not to take note of an area or pass through it. The other was a combination of the spells he had just cast on the classroom seconds ago. It was a practice that Ranma and Ryu had drilled themselves on for many months. If they ever felt the other's spells for concealing then they would help support the spell. They trusted that the other would have a good reason for the spell and so it could not be allowed to fail.

Both devils then exited the alley and saw why Ranma had come here. He was standing over a 14 year old boy in a green jumpsuit who had apparently been hit by a nearby car. Ryu and Ryoga rushed over to Ranma and saw a grim look on their king's face. Ryoga wasn't sure what was going on, but Ryu could see the hidden signs that this friend was debating something in his mind.

Ranma then opened his eyes and his face became firm with decision. He summoned one of his evil pieces surprising Ryu. The pawn became even more shocked when he recognized the piece as Ranma's mutated rook. Ranma ritually intoned: "I am Ranma Sitri of the noble House Sitri. It is my judgement that you are worthy of transcending your transient mortal flesh and walking this world as a devil. Yusuke Urameshi, know that a shallow mortal grave shall not be yours."

The rook piece floated from Ranma's hand to Yusuke's heart. Ranma spoke again, "From this day forward until your true last I bequeath unto you the gift of devilhood. As my Rook, you shall be counted among my companions taking joy in all that I love and scorning all that I despise. So I have commanded, so shall it be done!"

There was a flash of light as the evil piece entered Yusuke's body. Seconds later, Yusuke started to breathe again. Ranma grabbed Yusuke and began to carry the boy to the alley with Ryu and Ryoga following behind him. To onlookers, it seemed that Ranma had called an ambulance and had helped Yusuke onboard with two medics before the ambulance drove away.

Ranma entered the alley with all of his peerage and immediately cast a spell to hide their presence. He then gently set Yusuke down and began to pump his energy into the boy. Ryu and Ryoga both turned to look at their king. Ryu spoke up, "So who is this Ranma? I didn't know you had your eye on another possible peerage member."

"I wasn't planning on approaching Yusuke for a few more years so I didn't bother to mention that I had my eye on another possible peerage member. However," Ranma paused for a moment with a slightly disbelieving look on his face. He then continued keeping the disbelief out of his voice. "Yusuke pushed a little kid out of the way of the speeding car that would have killed the kid. Instead, Yusuke was the one who bought it."

Ryu looked at Yusuke and took note of Ranma's disbelief. He then said, "I take it this isn't something you expected of the boy?"

With a shake of his head Ranma replied, "Not at all. I saw the spark of potential in Yusuke which is why I had Ignis keep an eye on the boy. However, this act seems completely out of character for Yusuke. Good thing I saw it because otherwise I wouldn't have bothered to resurrect him. He must be a diamond in the rough because he sure cost more to resurrect than I expected."

Ranma had been surprised that it took his mutated rook to resurrect Yusuke as it should have only taken a pawn. The boy had no Sacred Gear and no signs of a mystical heritage according to Ranma's surface scan. He should have been a text book case of resurrecting a human. Especially when one considered the fact that Ranma was extremely powerful for his age and his evil pieces were accordingly more capable than those of his peers.

Some people would say that this simply meant that Yusuke simply had a tremendous amount of potential as a devil. They would be wrong. Ranma knew from his time with Ajuka that this was a common misconception about the cost to resurrect someone with an evil piece. It had something to do with some of the fundamental laws of transmutation. Ranma didn't quite understand it as transmutation wasn't an interest for him. Basically, everything has an innate resistance to being transformed and that resistance increased the longer the change was supposed to last. This required energy was the base cost of a pawn to transform a human into a devil. Some beings had a higher resistance then others when meant that more pawns or stronger evil pieces were needed to resurrect a person.

Stronger people typically had a higher resistance to being transformed, but it wasn't a 1 for 1 ratio if there even was a standard ratio of personal power to transformation resistance. Devils quickly started making the wrong assumption once it got out that stronger people needed more evil pieces or stronger evil pieces. This created the widely held mistaken belief anyone who had a high cost to resurrect must be destined to be a powerful devil someday. It also didn't help that most devils forgot that the King's personal power had a massive effect on how much resistance an evil piece could overcome. Ranma could resurrect beings with his evil pieces that Sona couldn't hope to resurrect. In turn, Serafall could resurrect people with her evil pieces that Ranma didn't have the strength to resurrect.

What could have caused Yusuke to cost so much? It was an enigma to Ranma and he hoped that his grandfather could explain it once he got the boy checked out. Thinking about getting Yusuke his post resurrection physical caused Ranma to wince. How was he going to explain everything to Yusuke? This was going to take every diplomatic lesson his mom had crammed into his head. After all, he had basically shanghaied Yusuke into the mystical world and the boy would probably not be too happy about that.

Ranma continued to wonder how he should explain things to Yusuke as he transferred his devil energy to the new rook. Both Ryu and Ryoga had at least some idea what they were getting into and chose to join his peerage. Yusuke had no clue and no choice which could easily make him resentful or even go rogue. Maybe he should call in Sona? She had a knack for placating upset people. Good thing too since she was supposed to be the future brains of the clan.

On second thought it would be better if Ranma didn't call Sona in to help him. Yusuke was a member of his peerage and his responsibility. What kind of man would he be if he skipped out on his responsibilities? Besides, Ranma really didn't want to owe Sona a favor. Last time he owed her a favor he was 10 and ended up roped into playing house with Sona for the entire day.

The ringing of his phone pulled Ranma from his thoughts. He grabbed it with his free hand and said, "Hello, this is Ranma Sitri."

"Son," Serafall's tone told Ranma that his mother was really annoyed about something.

"Yes mom?"

"Did you happen to resurrect someone in the past, say 10 minutes?"

Ranma blinked his eyes in confusion. How could she possibly know? "Yes."

Serafall's voice became super sweet filling Ranma with dread. Mom only did that change of voice when someone had sent something straight to Heaven. "I'm glad that has been clarified Ranma. Now get your ass and the rest of your peerage to the Sitri Mansion ASAP! You are all confined to the nursery room until I come to get you. I've got the Shinto underworld on the line raising an international uproar over you 'poaching' one of their souls."

* * *

Yusuke Urameshi opened his eyes and the first thing he noticed was the color pink. He blinked his eyes and realized he was looking at a pink colored wall and quickly noticed a bunch of paintings on the wall fit for a little girl. This made no sense to Yusuke and he blurted out, "Where the hell am I?"

"Close, the question you should be asking is: where in hell am I?" Yusuke looked around and quickly saw two slightly older teens sitting a few feet away from him on the floor with toys nearby that were fit for a 4 year old girl. The teen wearing camo pants got up and said, "Hello I'm Ryu Kumon and your name is Yusuke Urameshi correct?"

The hairs on the back of Yusuke's neck started to rise when he heard Ryu call him by name. Yusuke shifted to a more defensive posture while still sitting on the ground. He then said in a hostile tone. "Yeah that's my name. Why do you want to know? And for that matter, where the hell are we?"

Ryu shook his head and muttered under his breath, "Looks like easing him in isn't going to work." He then looked Yusuke in the eyes and said, "We are in hell." There was a gob smack look on Yusuke's face when he heard that sentence. Ryu didn't let Yusuke formulate a response and pressed on with his explanation while showing his devil wings to prove his point. "You were killed earlier today when you were hit by a car. My friend and lord Ranma apparently had his eye on you as a potential recruit. He used a piece of magic reserved for High Class devils to resurrect you."

"It turns out that the Shinto afterlife isn't too happy about you being resurrected. Something about how your soul had already been claimed. I don't know more than that. Ranma is currently getting chewed out by the Shinto representative and the Satan in charge of foreign affairs over your ass being saved."

All the color drained from Yusuke's face as a suppressed memory reared his head. He saw his body lying on the street with the car next to it. He had been floating about two or three stories in the air above his body. There was this girl who appeared with blue hair and a pink kimono riding on a wooden oar. Yusuke couldn't remember anything else as the memory cut off there.

The newest member of Ranma's peerage started look around the room trying to find something to anchor himself given the crazy revelations. There was nothing in the nursery that was comforting to Yusuke. It was as if someone with way too much money had decorated the room for a little girl who was in a princess phase. Sona had been such a phase before she was given her own bedroom and the nursery had been left as it stood. Saar and Sheli had found that neither Ranma nor Sona liked to spend time in the nursery making it the perfect spot to put either teen when they were in trouble.

The door to the nursery opened before anyone could say anything else. Everyone turned their heads to see Ranma walk into the room. He did not walk in with his usual confidant stride. Instead, Ranma shuffled in with his shoulders slumped. Ranma took a few steps into the room and then fell on the floor from exhaustion. Ryu and Ryoga ran over to Ranma who muttered, "I hate political compromises."

Yusuke warily watched as Ryu asked, "So what happened?"

Ranma rolled over onto his back and let out a sigh of exhaustion. "First I was verbally flayed for an hour by Mom who was in full Lady Leviathan mode. Then, Enma's kid Koenma showed up to berate me for 'poaching a soul that rightfully belonged to Yomi.' Mom had to promise to send a bill to the Conclave of Pillars that would forbid devils from reincarnating Japanese mortals who hadn't agreed to be reincarnated or weren't marked by the Biblical factions in some way. Finally, I get a month to train Yusuke in his new devil abilities and then Koenma gets him on retainer for a year and a day!"

It was the last part that really frosted Ranma. Yusuke was a member of his peerage and having him forcefully contracted out to someone else was a slap on his face. It was rare, but not unheard of, for a devil to have an ongoing contract. In many ways this was a boon for Ranma as Koenma did have to pay him for Yusuke's service. It was at a steeply discounted rate, but it was still a considerable sum that Koenma would be paying over the next year. The retainer position could be leveraged for foreign contacts that could be very beneficial in the future.

However, that didn't matter to Ranma nearly as much as the fact that he was forced to give Yusuke's services to Koenma. The stated reason for this forced labor and steep discount, which just rubbed salt into the wound, was as a repayment for Ranma 'poaching' a soul from Koenma. Yusuke was a member of his peerage and the only one who had the right to tell Yusuke what contract to take was himself.

Yusuke made the time out signal with his hand. "Just hold your horses here. What's this about devil abilities and me being on retainer?"

Ranma turned to Ryu and asked, "How much does he know?"

"Not much at all Ranma. I've just gotten to tell him that you revived him and that we're in hell. He doesn't even know how you revived him."

"Bless it," Ranma muttered while massaging his temple. If it wasn't one thing then it was another today. Ranma turned to look at Yusuke and said, "Let's start from the top. I'm Ranma Sitri and I'm a devil from Clan Sitri. We've never met in person before, but you caught my attention a few weeks ago. It was my plan to check in on you every so often over the next year or so and then offer you a chance to join me and my companions as part of my peerage trading your human life for that of a devil. That plan got nixed when you got hit by the car. It did show you had a hint of personal traits that I deem as critical for a member of my peerage. So I came in and resurrected you."

"Unfortunately, the only way I have to resurrect someone is to make them part of my peerage. Sorry for taking the choice away from you on whether or not to become a devil. But, you've got to admit that being alive and a devil is better than being human and dead." Ranma caused Yusuke's wings and tail to pop out to emphasis the point that the young teen was now a devil.

Yusuke looked at the wings and felt unfamiliar muscles move them. It took all his will to not fall over in shock at what happened to him. "What," he shakily said as he tried to find something to help him come to grips with what had just happened in his life. "What's going to happen to me?" Yusuke was trying to sound tough, but the older devils could see how frightened and uncertain he was.

Ranma took a step closer to Yusuke and gave a confident bordering on arrogant grin to the boy. "Simple Yusuke, we have dinner, formally welcome you into Clan Sitri, and starting tomorrow morning we work on making you one of strongest badass' in the Underworld. Your mother and anyone else who's asked on Earth has been informed that you've been taken to a private hospital for treatment as the grandson of the hospital's owner saw what you did. It's even the truth since my grandfather owns the main hospital in the Underworld and I saw what you did through my familiar's eyes."

The high class devil gently put his hand on Yusuke's shoulder and said, "I know that you've had a lot dumped on you very quickly Yusuke and that there a many things you'll need to learn about in the coming days. However, I can tell you this with absolute certainty. You are a part of Clan Sitri now. I, your fellow peerage members, and the clan as a whole are here to help you. Clan Sitri is known throughout the Underworld for its members fulfilling their duties. That includes the duties of a leader to their subordinates."

Confusion reigned in the middle schooler's mind. His day had been in the dumps since he woke up this morning. Between school, Keiko, the teachers, home, and his mother things couldn't have been worse today for Yusuke. Then there was that kid and the car. After that things seemed to go to hell in a hand basket. Hell, he was in hell and apparently a devil now.

At least Ranma and the other boys seemed to be alright. Part of Yusuke was uneasy with them given that he had never met the trio before and they were devils. But, they didn't look at him as scum and he was a devil himself now. The thought of becoming one of if not the biggest badass in hell did have some appeal to Yusuke. Perhaps the day was starting to look up for him?

* * *

The suite of the Sitri mansion set aside for Ranma and his peerage could qualify as a palace fit for an emperor back on Earth. Ranma woke up bright and early on his massive bed that was the size of his bedroom in the apartment with his father. He stretched his arms and then extended his wings. Ranma quickly flew off of his bed and landed on the floor next to it. Ranma then headed over to his walk in closet and picked out a simple training outfit.

Ranma quickly emerged from his closet headed to the living area of his bedroom, and looked at the trophies on display. He was well aware that as a devil he was most aligned with the sin of pride. This was shown by all of the trophies proudly on display throughout his suite. The trophies lining the hall of his suite came from various contests he had won in the Underworld. But these trophies, these were the ones that Ranma was most proud of. They were the first ones he won and most of them actually came from Earth. He kept the trophies in the Sitri mansion so that he didn't have to go through the hassle of moving them all the time.

Gloating time came to a halt when the doorbell to Ranma's room chimed. While shaking his head Ranma called out, "Enter." He then turned towards the door to see who would be here to see him in the morning. There was no way that it was his peerage. They would all be enjoying their private rooms and probably sleeping until he came in to wake them up.

To Ranma's surprise, the door opened to reveal Sona standing in the hallway wearing a second year high school student's uniform for Kuoh Academy. Sona walked into Ranma's room and closed the door behind her. Ranma smiled and said, "Morning Sona. It's been a while since I last saw you."

A faint dusting of color appeared on Sona's cheeks for a second, but that could have been caused by the rising sun. Sona returned the smile and said, "Good morning to you too Ranma. It has been a few weeks since we last saw each other. Can we talk for a moment before I have to leave for school?"

"Sure Sona." Ranma motioned with his head towards some chairs. The duo walked over and sat down in surprisingly simple recliners. Ranma looked at his aunt and said, "So what did you want to talk to me about?"

Sona adjusted her glasses and said, "I wanted to congratulate you on your new peerage members. It was very surprising to me to hear that you had acquired both of your rooks in such a relatively short period of time. No one in my peerage suspected you would have another addition so soon after Ryoga joined."

Ranma shrugged his shoulders. "I wasn't planning on it. It was my plan to get Ryoga trained up to Ryu's and my standards before I got another peerage member. Yusuke was earmarked for recruitment in a few years, but circumstances forced my hand."

"Even the best laid plans can be ruined by chance Ranma. It is often in how one adjusts to the disruptions in their plans that allows someone's true intelligence to shine. Still, I do have some concerns about Yusuke being in your peerage. His grades and the threat they pose to your right to leave the mansion are currently my highest concern."

Sona watched as Ranma let out a tired groan when she brought up Yusuke's grades. "Bless it; I was trying to not think about that for a little bit. 12 points, how can someone just get 12 points on their last test? Getting his test score up for the next test is going to a chore and a half. I'm just lucky that my agreement with mom resets my peerage's school grades to when I reincarnate them and that I've got 30 days or their next major test, whichever is farther away, to get their grades up to the acceptable level."

"Ranma, perhaps I can help." This statement caused Ranma to completely focus on Sona's face which in turn caused a light dusting to appear on Sona's cheeks. Sona then continued, "Several of my peerage members have experience in tutoring thanks to their contracts. I am willing to lend their services to help tutor Yusuke for you."

That was an attractive offer and caused Ranma to smile for a second. He then frowned and said, "What will it cost me for the tutoring lessons?"

Sona shook her head once and replied, "There will be no cost to you Ranma. My peerage's reputation in Kuoh will greatly improve once I let it leak out that several members of the student council are tutoring kids in a hospital in addition to their numerous duties. Besides, Yusuke is now a member of the Sitri Clan. It would not reflect well on me as the future clan head if I cannot help a clan member in something I am very suited for now would it?"

Ranma chuckled slightly as he saw that for some reason Sona wanted to help him out and her stated reasons were very good at saving face. "Thanks Sona, you're a life saver. However, don't worry about your reflection. I'm slated to take over the knee-breaking department for you when you become clan head remember? Anyone who thinks badly of you will have to answer to me and my peerage."

That statement caused Sona's cheeks to become noticeably red for a second. Neither of them would admit it, but there was a significant minority in Clan Sitri and the Legiones vassal clans that would prefer Ranma to be the clan heir over Sona even if it meant that the clan became a Comitatenses clan. Sitri traditions were such that the child of a former heir should have preference over the sibling of the former heir. There was also the fact that despite Saar's and Sheli's best efforts the knowledge that Ranma was significantly stronger than Sona had gotten out.

It was an unspoken rule among devils that the clan head, clan head's primary spouse, and the clan heir should be the strongest members of the clan. Having several clan members around the Clan Head's strength was one thing since one could easily argue that strategy and skill made the Clan Head better. Sona didn't have that protection since many in the clan and the vassal clans knew that Ranma outstripped her in magical power and martial skill. They also knew that Ranma was younger than Sona and he had a greater growth curve then her in these matters. To many, it made far more sense to have a future clan head skilled in war with an advisor to handle peace times then to have a future clan head skilled in peace times with an advisor to handle war.

Only three facts kept Saar and Sheli from having to publicly argue with their vassals over Sona's position. First, Ranma was a halfblood and many devils felt that the clan head at least should be a pure devil. Second, it was also known that Ranma did not want to be the clan head. There was too much paperwork and not enough time to practice martial arts in being clan head to interest Ranma. Finally, Sona made sure to act like a proper heiress to not give her enemies any more ammo against her. Even her somewhat unexpected challenge to her at the time fiancé was done within the acceptable bounds of custom.

Sona regained control of her facial expressions and her face returned to its normal color. She then bowed her head and said, "It is great to hear those words from you Ranma. I wish we could talk longer. However, I have work that needs to be done before school starts so I must leave now."

Ranma nodded his head and replied, "I understand Sona." He then got up and escorted Sona to the door. He then opened the door for Sona and closed it after she had left the room. Once Sona left, Ranma was left with a puzzle on his hands. Why didn't Sona try to get a favor out of him?


	6. Chapter 6

All three members of Triple R, as the trio of Ranma, Ryu, and Ryoga had recently been named by the students, stared at the school yard in shock. Their school yard was infested with a herd of three eyed cows that were eating the grass. Ranma and Ryu were the first to get over the sight and became calm. They glanced at each other, gave a slight shake of their heads, and then nodded their heads in agreement to an unspoken plan.

Ryoga recovered from his shock when he felt a tingle of devil magic in the air. He turned to look at Ranma and Ryu with concern. He then hissed out, "What are we going to do about this?"

Ranma put his arm around Ryoga's neck and whispered in his ear. "We're not going to do a thing. Ryu and I have already done the three security spells since whoever those cows belong to didn't do their equivalent. The cows aren't threatening us personally, anyone we are friends with, and we haven't been contracted to remove the cows. I don't know who those cows belong to and I don't want to potentially cause two international incidents in the same blessed week."

Yesterday, Ranma had been privately pulled into his mom's unofficial suite at the Sitri Mansion and given a bone bruising hug from Serafall. Her anger at Ranma's recruitment of Yusuke had been an act she had put on to placate Koenma. The Underworld could not afford to create any more enemies in the Supernatural World. It was already viewed as something of a rogue regime given that it was set up in opposition of its pantheon's deity. Then there was the three way cold war going on between Heaven, The Underworld, and Grigori.

The Underworld's relationship with the Shinto faction was one of their few amicable relationships and could not be jeopardized. Serafall coming down quickly and harshly on Ranma for his 'crime' to the Shinto Faction kept things stable. There was also the fact that the head deities of the Shinto Faction would encourage Koenma not to cause a continual stink over everything. The Three Factions together were the current hyper power in the supernatural world and had proven able to work together when it was mutually beneficial for them to do so. No pantheon wanted to rally the Three Factions against them.

Even Ranma was aware of how this part of the supernatural power game was played and he liked to ignore politics when he could. The other pantheons picked one member of the Three Factions to work with and used the infighting of Heaven, the Underworld, and Grigori as a proxy to snipe at their rivals. This let the other pantheons settle disputes for minimal resource expenditure. It also had the advantage for other pantheons of keeping the Three Factions at each other's' throats. Ranma knew this thanks to hearing his mother complain about it over the years. It was a game that the Underworld had to play because otherwise one of the other factions could overwhelm them if they got too much outside support.

It still sucked that he had to be reamed over acquiring a peerage member in order to protect the Underworld. Ranma simply had enough knowledge to know that it wasn't anything personal. He also had enough sense to not get involved in a similar situation again so soon after what had happened to him. He had already done what he needed to do in order to preserve the secrecy of the mystical world and that was it.

Triple R quickly got to their classroom and calmly sat down in their seats. Their two day absence was not the talk of the class because of all the cows surrounding the school. Soon the teacher came in and started the first lesson of the day. The trio handed in their homework that Ryu's familiar had gotten for them by pretending to be Genma. It wasn't the first time Ryu or Ranma's familiar had pretended to be Genma.

Unknown to the boys, Genma knew about their using his image to get them out of a jam needing parental authority. He didn't say anything because the familiars always presented him as a reasonable parent looking out for his kids even if that meant dragging them off by their ears for misbehaving. To Genma, it was a complement that Ranma and Ryu looked to him to be the source of parental protection. Not that he would admit it to them if they ever caught on that he knew.

Things got interesting about an hour after school started when what looked like a midget showed up at the school trying to collect the cattle into a freight truck. At least, that what the mundane students and faculty saw. Triple R those few in the know saw a young kitsune trying to get the cows onto a teleporter array. It was not going well for the young kitsune who Tripple R could see was on the verge of tears at not being able to move the cattle.

Ryoga waited until the teacher left the classroom at the end of the lesson to speak with Ranma. He whispered, "Is there anything we can do to help the little fellow? He really looks like he's in trouble down there."

Ranma placed his right hand on his head and glanced out the window like he was bored. This allowed him to discreetly case a spell on his eyes sharpening his vision so that it was like he had high powered binoculars on. Ranma spotted a symbol on the kitsune's outfit and frowned. He closed his eye to cancel the spell and sighed.

The king then turned to his rook and quietly stated, "We're the last kind of people he'll want or even think of accepting help from. I won't go into everything now, but the short version is that a group of devil clans nearly wiped out several clans of yokai that his clan was allied with. It's best for us to pretend he isn't here and hope that he does the same if he discovers us."

The Nekomata Genocide was a cluster fuck for the Underworld. All Nekomata in the Underworld and a large part of the population of Nekomata on Earth had been killed before the Satans had been able to get control of the situation. It had triggered an economic depression in the Underworld from so many non-devils leaving the underworld and the cutting of most supernatural trade for the Underworld. A dozen different supernatural pantheons almost declared war on the Underworld thanks to devils crossing into their territory trying to hunt Nekomata.

It had also heightened tensions in the Underworld between the Aristocrat and Meritocrat factions. This was because the hunters were mainly from the Aristocrats and the economic depression hit the Meritocrats the hardest. Sirzechs had been forced to round up everyone involved in the Nekomata Genocide and sentenced them to decimation via lot and water. It was an old punishment that only a Satan could issue to devils that caused a major catastrophe for the Underworld. Using specially fixed dice secretly controlled by the satans, Sirzechs had the hunters role to select the condemned. Anyone who tried to run was automatically killed and declared permanently "safe" for the purposes of lots. Then the other hunters had to bind the condemned and shove them into vats of holy water holding them down until the condemned died. All wealth from the condemned was confiscated and used to buy off the hostile supernatural powers.

The whole situation was one that none of the adults wanted to happen again or be reminded of ever again. Saar had taken a different route with Sona and Ranma than most devil parents by explaining everything with the situation in detail. He had also shown them videos of the nekomata mass graves and the hunters executions to drive home just how horrific everything truly was. Devils had been on the brink of a situation that would have been worse than the Great War. There was no way they could have survived a war on twelve fronts even before factoring in the other two members of the Three Factions joining in the fight.

Neither of them could ever trigger something that catastrophic. To do so would be a complete abandonment of their duties as nobles of Clan Sitri. That was why Ranma had publicly taken his verbal thrashing over Yusuke's reincarnation on the chin even though he had done nothing wrong. The incident could not have been allowed to spiral into a bigger issue. It was also why Ranma wouldn't let Ryoga or Ryu possibly cause an incident by helping the kitsune.

* * *

Keiko Yukimura was surprised to see a teen wearing the uniform to the local all-boys high school walk up the school gates as school was ending for the day. It was strange because she didn't know of anyone having an older sibling going to that school that picked them up and she hadn't heard anything about such a sibling coming to pick anyone up. She watched as the teen walked up and entered the school without the slightest hesitation. Her curiosity was piqued so she changed her route through the halls to observe the young man.

Naturally, the sight of an unknown high schooler coming onto school grounds at closing time attracted a lot of attention from the students. Keiko wasn't the only person to change their normal route to better observe the visitor. No one got too close to the teen as he seemed to have a commanding aura around him that told everyone to stay out of his way. The teen headed to the front desk of the school's office and most students shied away from going towards that part of the school. Keiko continued to watched and saw the boy approach the secretary.

Said secretary looked up from her desk and asked in a slightly confrontational tone, "Your name and reason for visit." Unknown to others, her hand under her desk was inching closing to the silent alarm button. She didn't recognize this boy and being in his presence made her feel like she was in the sights of an alpha predator.

The boy smiled and said, "I am Ranma Saotome and I am here to pick up Yusuke Urameshi's homework so it can be delivered to him at the hospital."

The secretary froze when Ranma mentioned Yusuke. She stuttered, "Why would you be picking up homework for him?" It was obvious from her face that she didn't see a reason why anyone would bother giving Yusuke his homework. It wasn't like the bum would do it.

Ranma released a smidgen of his devil aura on the secretary that made her whimper slightly. No one talked like that about a member of his peerage. It also pricked his pride that someone would imply he wouldn't do his duties. Ranma authoritatively said, "Yusuke is being treated at my grandfather's hospital and this school is on my route to it. Also, I have an interest in Yusuke's education as the person who had Yusuke admitted to the hospital after he save a little boy's life. It would a great travesty on this school that a student who showed more moral fortitude then hundreds of onlookers was hampered from continuing his education thanks to bureaucratic ineptitude."

That made the secretary very nervous. Yusuke being injured saving a little boy had given the school some good publicity. However, that also meant that the eyes of the district school board were on the school. Things would not go well for her if someone as powerful and connected as Ranma seemed to be made the district school board come down on the school and her in turn. The fact that she hadn't bothered to prepare a medical leave study packet for Yusuke as she figured he wouldn't complete the packet made things worse.

Keiko walked up to the desk and politely said, "Excuse me. I am one of Yusuke's classmates and I have all of the notes he'll need for today's assignment."

Ranma turned his attention to Keiko and looked at her for a moment. He then politely and without projecting any of his devil aura asked, "You wouldn't happen to be the Keiko that Yusuke mentions?"

Keiko blushed and looked to the side for a moment before muttering, "Yusuke." She then turned to look at Ranma and more firmly said, "I am Keiko Yukimura and Yusuke is an old friend of mine. I'm also his class president. Part of my duties is to insure that all absent students get their homework packets."

The devil nodded his head and requested, "Can you hand me a copy of those notes? The hospital is a ways away and the tutor that's been arranged for him has only a limited time available."

Keiko nodded her head and immediately started to get her notes out. As she was doing this she asked, "Is Yusuke alright?"

"He's doing as well as can be expected given his situation. The doctors say he should be in good enough health to return to class in 2 to 3 weeks." At least, that that was minimum time needed to sell the idea that Yusuke was in treatment for being hit by the car without spending an exorbitant amount of resources into hiding the fact from everyone.

Keiko let out a sigh of relief when she heard the news. "That's good to hear sir."

Ranma shook his head and replied as he took the notes, "Call me Ranma. I'm a little young to be called sir and it's great to talk to someone who's serious about their duties. Have a good day and I'll be in tomorrow to pick up the notes again."

The young devil then marched out of the school office and made a beeline for the school exit. He quickly left the school and headed for a teleporting spot. As he did so, he gave Ignis an order to keep an eye on the middle school. He needed to know more about it since Yusuke would be returning there for school soon enough. Besides, there was always the possibility that he could find another diamond in the rough. It wasn't like he expected to discover that Yusuke was the descendent of a Satan level Makai Yokai when he first started looking at Yusuke.

Saar had really surprised Ranma when he dropped that proverbial bomb in his lap. Finding out that Yusuke was the only known descendent of Raizen Toshin was something both Saar and Ranma knew had to be kept close to Clan Sitri's chest. Raizen had been one of the 10 Strongest Existences for centuries before his deteriorating health from starvation forced him to a lower position on the supernatural strength totem pole. He still was a feared being and held onto his position as one of the 3 Kings of the Makai Yokai which was extremely impressive. Unlike the Earth Yokai, the yokai who had immigrated to Makai had continued the yokai traditions which could be summed up as the law of the jungle. A leader ruled as much as they wanted and had the strength to enforce their will. Any weakness was typically attacked by a rival or an ambitious underling. Only the strongest and most cunning could stay on top in such an environment.

Having Raizen's potential heir would cause a massive amount of diplomatic headaches if the news got out before Clan Sitri prepared things properly. For starters, Yusuke needed to get a lot stronger before even Raizen could be approached about the new devil's connection to the Makai King. Saar also needed to figure out just what the heaven those atavistic Mazoku genes were doing to Yusuke. Both Ranma and his grandfather were fairly certain that those genes were why Yusuke needed a mutated rook to be reincarnated. But, they didn't have a clue what was going to happen because of the Mazoku genes. Researching them would have to be done in secrecy for the time being and Clan Sitri's resources for top secret medical research were already spoken for. Best to keep quiet while taking a wait and see approach.

* * *

Ryu and Ryoga were walking the grounds of the Sitri mansion waiting for Ranma to join them when Ryoga spotted something in the sky. He quickly spoke up, "Ryu is it normal to see people flying by riding oars around here?"

The pawn blinked his eyes in confusion replied, "What? No! Why would any devil do that when we've got wings? If someone was trying to make a statement or show off they'd be in a fancy carriage or riding the back of a rare beast."

Ryoga turned to look at Ryu and then pointed to figure in the sky. "Then just who is that?"

Ryu followed Ryoga's finger and was shocked to see someone flying on a wooden oar. The unknown person slowly started to fly closer to the duo allowing them to observe the figure. First thing that stood out was the fact that the flyer was wearing a pink kimono. Then the duo realized that the flyer was a girl and that she had blue hair.

The flying girl adjusted her flightpath and started to fly towards the duo. She angled her oar so that she flew close to them and then stopped about two feet away. The oar hovered in the air so that the young woman's feet were about half a foot from the ground. The young blue haired woman cheerfully smiled at the duo and said, "Good afternoon gentleman. Would you happen to know the way to the Sitri Mansion?"

Ryu took the lead and replied, "Would you mind first telling me who you are and why you're on Sitri lands? It's not usual for people to be this deep in Sitri territory asking for directions like you are."

The girl put one hand behind her head in embarrassment and answered Ryu. "I suppose my question was a bit odd from your point of view. I'm Botan, a spirit guide from Reikai. Lord Koenma sent me here to be his personal ambassador and point of contact with the Sitri Clan. Given the upcoming agreement between him and Lord Ranma Sitri he felt that a continuous ambassador would be for the best."

Both devils glanced at each other and fought back sighs. They knew that Ranma wasn't going to like this. Ryu turned to look at Botan and said, "I am Ryu Kumon of Clan Sitri peerage sworn to Lord Ranma Sitri Margrave in Clan Sitri and Heir of the Blood. As my lord's second by right of seniority, I greet you and welcome you onto Sitri lands. May only good things flow from your visit."

Inside his head, Ryu was doing a little jig that he had remembered all the proper formal greeting for non-devil non-hostile supernatural entities entering Sitri lands. He didn't really care about learning all of the greetings just like Ranma didn't like it. However, he was stuck as the second in the peerage for the time being so he had to learn them all. There was an established hierarchy for a devil's peerage that everyone followed. After the King was the Queen, then any spouses the King had, then the senior member of the peerage for the rare occasions said person wasn't the Queen, and then any title holders in the peerage by title rank. How formal or relaxed the relationship and chain of command was depended on the peerage.

Botan smiled and said, "Thank you! Oh, um, how does that response go? Oh right, Let my visit herald good times for you and yours." She nervously chuckled and hoped they wouldn't make a big deal out of her slight mistake. She was a ferry girl who handled getting dazed or frightened souls of the recently deceased to Reikai. It wasn't like Koenma had a staff of trained diplomats to call on. Those belonged to Amaterasu in the Shinto Faction of which Reikai was a division. She was put into this role since she was "at fault" for letting Yusuke's soul get poached according to Koenma.

Ryu lead Botan back towards the Sitri Mansion with Ryoga walking along. The trio reached the front door just as a sigil appeared by the front door signaling that someone was teleporting in. They waited a few seconds and were greeted by Ranma who was holding Yusuke's schoolwork.

Ranma blinked his eyes in surprise seeing Botan who he didn't recognize. He turned to Ryu and asked, "Who's your companion?"

To Ranma's surprise, Ryu gave him a formal bow which clued him into the fact that he was currently dealing with something relating to one of his positions. Ryu then said, "My liege, as your senior peerage member it is my duty and honor to introduce you to Botan. She has been sent by Lord Koenma to be his personal ambassador to you and to the Sitri Clan as a whole. I have been informed that Lord Koenma decided having a single ambassador would make things smoother between him and you."

It took all of Ranma's training to show his annoyance and frustration at Botan's visit. He knew that he couldn't be angry at her. She was just the messenger and it would cause massive backlash if a high ranking member of the Sitri Clan lashed out at another faction's messenger. That Botan was a messenger connected to his recent 'scandal' would make the situation even worse if he messed up.

But, a part of Ranma just couldn't help feeling resentful at what Botan represented. Yusuke was his companion. He had scouted the boy out, saw what others hadn't, and had taken the risk of having a quarrelsome vassal to resurrect Yusuke. It burned that someone else was able to make a claim on a member of his peerage.

Ranma's training kicked in and he politely bowed to Botan. He then spoke at the end of the bow. "Welcome to my clan's lands and please accept my hospitality. From now until you leave may you enjoy the rest, relaxation, and refreshment that I can provide."

Botan bowed in return and said, "I thank you for your protection and your providence. Let my visit herald good times for you and yours."

With the formality out of the way, Ranma moved on to the details of Botan's visit. "Are you planning on staying with Clan Sitri for most of your time as Lord Koenma's personal ambassador? Or, are you supposed to only visit us when you have a message from your lord?" Ranma needed to know this so he could inform his grandfather if they needed to set aside one of the visitor suites.

The employment misplaced ferry girl blinked her eyes for a second in surprise at the question. She put a hand under her chin, extended one finger, and started to tap the finger against her jaw. "You know, Lord Koenma never specified how he wanted details like that worked out. He called me to his office, told me that I was the new personal ambassador, and told me to introduce myself to your clan." Botan's voice shifted towards the end of her statement as she became embarrassed at how unprepared this all looked.

Ranma fought back a groan and gestured towards the Sitri Manson. "Let's talk to my grandfather Lord Sitri. We will need to discuss all of this with him eventually so we might as well do it now."

* * *

Genma was sitting at his kitchen table looking at his microwave dinner alone with a frown. One of the boys familiars had left a note on the kitchen table when Genma got home letting him know that something had come up involving clan business. At least the boys were thoughtful enough to let him know. To hide his concern, Genma thought about how he would double their training to make up for their missed session.

Part of Genma could understand why in so many tales his grandfather told him about hanyous that the mortal parent was never present. It was difficult enough to try and guide a child into being a responsible adult in the first place. Adding in supernatural powers and duties for the kid in question just made everything exponentially harder. Genma could see how lesser parents could want to refuse such burdens even if he couldn't accept the reasoning.

Ranma and Ryu were the best things that Genma had in life. They even overshadowed his deep friendship with Soun; although, Genma would probably never admit it out loud. Seeing them grow up into reasonably responsible young men had been a joy. Genma had hundreds of fond memories of the boys' excitement over learning something new in martial arts or other typical parent child events. He pushed the boys hard because he wanted the best for them. It had the expected bonus of improving Genma's own abilities as he fought to stay one step ahead of Ranma and Ryu. It wouldn't do for the boys to surpass him this early in their training. That might cause them to slack off in their training.

Part of Genma was amused by the thought of the boys and especially Ranma slacking off their training. Ranma lived martial arts and a major part of his pride was centered on his martial abilities. It made training and striving to be the best at martial arts a core part of Ranma intrinsic nature. At least, that's the impression Genma got from overhearing the boys talk about their devil lessons. Most of those kinds of lessons were handled by Ranma's grandparents at their home and Genma naturally wasn't there. Hell was no place for a living mortal and all the various tales told how venturing there would be a very bad idea for Genma.

Those amusing thoughts didn't put Genma's fears to rest. It was imperative that Ranma always keep training the hardest that he could. This went beyond the boy's position as heir to Anything Goes. His very life could rest on his abilities. Serafall had tried to conceal it when Ranma was younger, but Genma had picked up to the fact that she and the Sitri had many powerful enemies. These enemies were the kind that would think nothing about killing Ranma if the opportunity presented itself. Genma refused to let that ever happen and so he trained Ranma to insure no opportunity could happen.

Being a wandering martial artist with an erratic travel pattern also helped in warding off supernatural threats to the boys. Such times would soon be ending as it would be difficult to move Ranma's larger peerage. Genma had already decided that there would be one final training trip and then they would move in with Soun. Ranma and his boys should be strong enough by then to defend Ranma's future wife or at least by time for aid to arrive.

Genma was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of the doorbell ringing. He put down his chopsticks with a bit of a grumble and walked over to the front door. Mr. Saotome opened the door and saw Sairaorg standing on the front step. "What do you want Sairaorg?" Genma stated without any hesitation as he recognized his son's rival.

Sairaorg bowed his head and said, "Good evening Mr. Saotome. Is Ranma available to talk?"

Genma shook his head. "No Sairaorg, he's at the Sitri clan lands right now. He and Ryu should be heading home soon if something hasn't held them up."

A downcast look appeared on Sairaorg's face for a split second. He then shook his head and said, "Not what I was hoping to hear. Mr. Saotome, could you please pass along a message to Ranma for me? I think it would be a bit insulting to just have my familiar pass along this message to your son."

Most humans would not rate this kind of respect from Sairaorg. He didn't despise or hate humans like a fair minority of pureblood devils did. It was just that most humans weren't worth a second thought in Sairaorg's book. There were the exceptions like noted exorcists and repeat customers, but most humans were background noise. Sort of like squirrels at a wooded park. You expected them to be there, but didn't really think about them.

Not so with Genma. He had treated Sairaorg with respect simply because he was his son's friend. Mr. Saotome had never looked down on Sairaorg for wanting to become stronger. The only thing he ever said on that matter was that Sairaorg better train hard if he wanted to become strong. When Genma had officiated spars between Sairaorg and Ranma he didn't favor either side. He had even offered Sairaorg a pointer here and there along with the occasional technique. Genma was almost an honorary uncle to the young devil heir and he deserved respect.

With a shrug Genma said, "What's the message Sairaorg?" He didn't mind helping the young devil out, but he also wanted to get back to his dinner.

Sairaorg quickly said, "I won't be able to make the next monthly spar that Ranma and I had arranged. A situation came up with the Bael Clan that will need me somewhere else during that time. I will come back when my schedule has cleared up to arrange another spar. Also, remind Ranma not to get lazy during this time. I would rather not earn my next win because he became sloppy."

A chuckle escaped Genma's lip and he replied, "No problem. I'll kick the boy's ass myself if he neglects his training to that point. See you around Sairaorg."


	7. Chapter 7

Ranma's face was covered in sweat as he did one handed pushups with his left hand over a tub of holy water. His other hand was tied to his back with a rosary with the skin around the rosary looking like it had a massive sunburn. As Ranma continued his steady exercise he watched as his peerage members did their own training. Ryu was practicing a kata on a training dummy with several crosses hanging off of him just a meter or two away. Ryoga and Yusuke were exercising almost 300 meters away to avoid the effects of the holy objects. Ryoga was on a series of poles using his Sacred Gear to quickly teleport from place to place as randomly indicated by a blinking light. Yusuke was doing a more basic series of jogs with weights on his back.

Training was interesting for Ranma at the moment. He and Ryu had trained together for so long that they could trust each other to do what they needed to do to improve their abilities. Most of their exercises were similar given that they had the same master. They only needed to spar with each other to see how the other was improving and to point out spots for further improvement.

Ryoga seemed to be a very well trained martial artist which was a bit of a problem. His strength and endurance had skyrocketed from when he was a human which threw everything off for him. Then there was magic and a Sacred Gear to think about when translated into Ryoga's training focusing on controlling his abilities. Being able to break granite slabs with a tap of your hand was not good if you wanted to slap someone on the back safely.

Yusuke on the other hand had to focus on developing his abilities. He had good instincts and some basic physical fitness before he was resurrected. However, he needed to have those traits refined and brought to their peak. Yusuke also needed to have proper hand to hand and other combat skills pounded into his head. Instinct and street fighting only took one so far. To advance to the highest levels of a fighter one needed training and dedication. This left him alternating days between training his limits and developing skill.

Ranma paused at 100 pushups to switch the rosary and start doing pushups with the other hand. It was Yusuke that worried Ranma the most out of all his peerage members. It wasn't the possibility of Yusuke going rogue that bothered Ranma. That was very unlikely as Yusuke seemed to be adapting excellently to his new situation in life. Yusuke now had something that he had been sorely missing in life; people besides Keiko that gave a blessing about him. Sure Yusuke grumbled about having to do so much homework for school in addition to his training regime and devil lessons. But, he was happy that the devils he interacted with all supported him and worked with him to make sure everything was understood.

What worried Ranma was the fact that Yusuke would have to be at Koenma's call in just 14 days. He would have limited ability to help Yusuke on any mission that Koenma gave him due to international politics. There were some safety nets in place in the terms of the agreement for him to help Yusuke. But, there wasn't nearly enough for Ranma's peace of mind. If any harm came to Yusuke he wouldn't be able to live with himself.

It was fortunate that Koenma, or at least Botan, wasn't viewing Yusuke as a disposable asset. She had given Yusuke two Reikai items typically given to spirit detectives and had mentioned a technique that Yusuke was able to adapt to very quickly. The Devil Gun technique of Yusuke's was a good starting range attack option even if he currently only had 2 shots available. Botan had assured Ranma and Yusuke that as Yusuke got stronger he would gain more shots and could even combine his 'bullets' to create a few far stronger attacks.

But the question still remained in Ranma's mind. Was it enough for Yusuke? Would he be able to save his rook if things went straight to heaven? Reikai's track record when it came to Spirit Detectives wasn't the greatest from what Ranma had heard and that was basically the position that Koenma would be using Yusuke for under the contract. Ranma turned his head to look at Botan who was lounging in a chair at the end of the exercise field apparently reading a book. Botan was a friendly person and she seemed to care about Yusuke as much a one reasonable can for someone they've recently met. The problem was that she was just the spokesperson. Who could tell what Koenma would do?

Ranma shook his head and focused on his pushups. That was something he could do something about. He completed his current reps and then checked the time on his Devilberry. A frown quickly appeared and then vanished on his face. Ranma put his Devilberry away and then pushed off so that he was standing and untied the rosary. He looked around and called out to his peerage. "Alright everyone, it's time to put our training gear away and hit the showers. We've got a half hour before its time to start taking contracts."

Every member of Ranma's peerage proceeded to clean up their training gear. Ranma could leave it to the servants to clean everything up. However, Genma had pounded it into Ranma's head that he had to respect training equipment. How can you say that you respect training equipment if you didn't clean and store it properly? Besides, Ranma and Ryu were the only ones who could clean up the holy symbols without a hazmat suit. The holy water and symbols were stored in a separate storage shed marked with a biohazard symbol.

Botan got up and walked towards Ranma. He spotted her just after he had entered the code to relock the shed for holy items. "Hey Botan, how are you doing?"

Botan smiled and replied, "I'm doing well Ranma. I must say I'm surprised to see the thoroughness of your training. Rumor had it that most devils prefer to let time and contracts increase their power."

Ranma smirked, "That's true for most devils. But, I'm not most devils. Why wait when I can get stronger training? Our power increase via aging is based on a percentage of our power and that percentage slowly decreases with age. My grandparents found that this decrease can be halted and sometimes even reversed with proper exercise and diet."

Botan nodded her head and replied. "I see now. By actively increasing your power you get more out of your natural increase in power. You'll also develop habits that will insure you stay gaining power better than your peers will."

"Precisely Botan," Ranma said happy that she had figured things out. He didn't mind sharing the information since it was public knowledge. It was just that most High Class devils didn't act on it unlike the lower classes. It was one of the many reasons why the lower class devils were getting comparatively so much stronger and thus frightening the Aristocratic Faction.

Ranma turned to look at Yusuke who was putting the weights away and called out, "Don't forget to put the weights back in proper order Yusuke."

Yusuke gave Ranma a casual wave and called out as he put the weights back. "Don't get your panties in a bunch. Everything will go back as I got them Ranma." There was no real bite to Yusuke's reply as there would have been if Ranma was a teacher at school before he became a devil. It wasn't nearly as annoying to hear instructions from someone who practiced what they preached. Besides, Yusuke had to respect his king for his hard core workout using those holy items. Just being near them made Yusuke feel as weak as a newborn babe and Ranma was doing one handed pushups over that stuff? If you had to have a devil for a boss it was good to have one that was badass.

* * *

Koenma was at his desk in Reikai furiously trying to keep up with the mountains of paperwork that the ogres were constantly putting on his desk. It seemed like every time he got rid of one stack of papers two more would show up in its place. What made it all worse for Koenma is that he had been putting up with a nagging at the back of his mind all day. He felt like he had forgotten something very important, but he couldn't remember whatever it was. Koenma heard the sound of some sort of commotion in the background and tried his best to ignore it. However, the sound just made that nagging feeling worse.

The slamming of palms on the desk shook all of the stacks of paper and jolted Koenma away from the uniform change request form he had been looking at. Koenma let out a cry of surprise and started to look for what had disturbed his work. He immediately came face to face with an enraged Ranma Sitiri who had his nose millimeters away from Koenma's.

Ranma practically snarled as he said, "What the heaven kind of idea is this Koenma? You sent Yusuke after three thieves who managed to break into Reikai, steal three very dangerous artifacts, and you're telling him to complete this task in only three blessed days? You may have the right to my rook's services for a year, but that does not mean you can send him on a suicide mission!"

Koenma quivered for a second from having Ranma so angry at him and so uncomfortably close. The little deity put his hand on his heart and blurted out, "Ranma? How did you get here?"

With a stormy look on his face Ranma said, "Standard retainer contract section 3, paragraph 5 which states: 'In the event that the holder of the retainer contract orders the retainer to perform a task outside of the retainer's expected abilities, the retainer's lord has to the right to a face to face meeting with the holder of the retainer contract. Said meeting is to occur as soon as possible to discuss the extraordinary task given to the retainer.'"

Koenma quickly typed a few commands into his keyboard and pulled up the section of his retainer contract for Yusuke. Sure enough, it was exactly as Ranma had stated. Further reading of the contract revealed some very nasty repercussions for him if Ranma didn't receive a 'satisfactory resolution to the assigned task being outside the retainer's expected abilities'. Koenma sighed and slumped in his chair. Just when he thought he had a solution to his problems another problem emerges.

The effective current head of Reikai lowered his head and turned to look at Ranma. Koenma silently had his office doors closed and sealed so that the two of them could talk in peace. "Lord Ranma Sitri, Margrave in Clan Sitri and Heir of the Blood," Koenma started in a very formal tone of voice to show how serious he was. "It was neither my intention nor my desire to have Retainer Urameshi placed in such a difficult and dangerous position. However, there are circumstances that forced me to call upon Retainer Urameshi for the task I gave him."

"The three artifacts I tasked Retainer Urameshi with retrieving are very powerful and the thieves can do a great deal of damage with them. However, the real problem is my father. Those artifacts are the proverbial crown jewels of his collection and he constantly likes to look at them. In a week King Enma returns from his vacation and if the artifacts aren't in their display cases in the vault for him to look at he will become enraged. The last time my father became mildly annoyed he summoned a typhoon that killed thousands and left hundreds of thousands homeless. Can you imagine the kind of devastation my father will cause if he finds out that his prized artifacts are gone?"

Ranma had a healthy imagination like any devil and could easily picture such devastation in his head. Absolute carnage filled his mind with millions dead and millions more in absolute destitution. It caused him to shiver and Ranma knew that almost any devil would dread having such a thing happen. This made the situation so much more problematic then Ranma thought and it would have to be handled very delicately. He might even have to call in his mother for some discrete help.

Despite popular opinion, devils did not take delight in major natural or manmade disasters. The Underworld actually took steps to try and prevent such situations wherever possible. Disasters killed people and ruined objects which meant less future clients and current clients couldn't afford devil services. Major disasters also had an annoying tendency to drive humans to seek Heaven's help which no devil wanted. The ideal human condition for devils was actually the proverbial corrupt inner city.

It took Ranma a few seconds to refocus after he got those images of devastation in his head. He then turned to Koenma and said, "Why aren't you using your regular guards and investigative forces to apprehend these criminals? If your father might cause so many problems if he finds the artifacts missing then why aren't you mobilizing your forces?"

Koenma sighed and replied, "Any significant mobilization of Reikai forces, even in Japanese territory not engaging another faction, will cause an automated notification to be sent to King Enma. The notification will contain why the forces are being mobilized which will infuriate my father and likely cause him to commit mass destruction which I'm trying to avoid."

The young looking ruler walked a foot away from Ranma and looked out at the busy office complex he was in charge of with his father away. His shoulders slumped and he wearily continued. "A similar notification will be sent out if I try to divert funds to hire outside help for this situation. Retainer Urameshi is the only asset I have that can hunt down the missing artifacts without alerting and angering my father."

The burden Koenma felt over the whole situation was obvious to Ranma. It was also obvious that Koenma was trying to not let the weight he felt about the situation show. The young devil's face softened and he said, "I can understand the situation that you've been forced into Koenma. But, you have to understand the situation I'm being forced into because of this. Yusuke is my friend and my rook. His safety is one of my top concerns as his King and this mission is extremely dangerous for Yusuke as he currently is in his training. Maybe I can take over this mission for Yusuke? It's rare, but not unheard of for a King to take up a task for a peerage member on retainer that is doing something beyond the peerage member's abilities."

Koenma turned to face Ranma and shook his head, "I wish I could agree to that Ranma. The problem is that calling in any high ranking devil generates lots of paperwork and official notices. You generate an entire order more of paperwork Ranma. After all, you are the only high ranking devil with legal and blood ties to Japan. Unlike other high ranking devils, you have complete freedom to move about the country which means you are monitored by all of the different subgroups within the Shinto Faction. Any direct action you take risks the loss of the artifacts coming to light. That will upset my father and could easily trigger an array of arguments within the Shinto Faction."

Ranma shook his head, "We don't want that to happen." What Koenma was describing would mean the sharp decline in influence and power of the Shinto Faction. Whether it would be because of internal strife, diplomatic repercussions, or both didn't matter in the end. All that would matter is that a major ally of the Underworld and the only real ally it had in the Far East would become weak and vulnerable. One didn't have to be a genius at international diplomacy to realize the negative effects this could have for the Underworld.

The pint sized prince's eyes widened as a thought came to him. He turned to Ranma and said, "High ranking devil, the key point is when a devil is high ranking. A low ranking devil wouldn't attract too much attention. Retainer Urameshi is your newest member of your peerage and is relatively new to being a devil. It would not raise too many questions if you had another member of your other peerage check in on him from time to time to 'make sure he doesn't besmirch the Sitri name to an important client'. We can't have your other peerage members help him too much or it would draw too many questions."

Koenma then reached into his pocket and pulled out three pearls. He handed them to Ranma and said, "Here take these Ranma. Just crush one of these pearls yourself or have one of your peerage members crush one to send a signal that one of your peerage members is checking up on the situation. I'll be able to guarantee 5 minutes of no monitoring; maybe a bit longer if only low class peerage members are helping Retainer Urameshi. Please keep in mind that crushing multiple pears won't increase the monitor free time. These pearls simply trigger the Reikai sensors to go into a feedback loop. Also, the pearls will shatter if subjected to any form of scanning."

"I wish I could do more to help you Ranma. However, I there is only so much I can do given what we're against right now."

* * *

Genma frowned as Botan carried Yusuke in a fireman's carry into his apartment. He had briefly met the girl but he didn't really know much about her other than she was helping Ranma's peerage because of some deal with another supernatural group. Botan bowed her head and said, "Sorry for coming in so unexpectedly Mr. Saotome. Yusuke is in need of help and your house is closer than his mother's apartment."

A frown appeared on Genma's face as he got up to check on his son's newest peerage member. Gruffly the martial artist asked, "Did the boy stumble onto a stray devil?" His eyes were surveying the boy taking note of the injuries. He was also sensing that Yusuke's power level was very low but stable. That was a concerning, but not alarming thing to note about the young rook.

Botan shook her head as she placed Yusuke on the couch. "No sir, this wasn't because of a stray devil. Yusuke was tasked by Lord Koenma to recover three stolen artifacts. One of them is in the possession of a Kyukonki who fought Yusuke. The fight was not going well for Yusuke, but I was able to trick the Kyukonki into thinking a large mob of humans was about to show up. That forced him to flee lettig me take Yusuke back here."

Ryoga and Ranma instantly appeared at that moment thanks to Ryoga's sacred gear. Ranma ran over to Yusuke like all the puppies of heaven were after him. The young king grabbed Yusuke's hand and immediately started to pump as much devil energy into his rook as possible. Ranma turned to Ryoga as he was pumping energy and ordered, "Go get a medic from the clan hospital now Ryoga!"

Botan spoke up, "Wait! Yusuke is in stable condition." All conscious eyes turned to look at Botan and gulped in nervousness for a split second. She then turned to her usual cheerful self and said, "I was able to get Yusuke away from his enemy before any long term damage could be dealt to him. He's bruised up and probably is going to feel sore when he wakes up. But, Yusuke should be fine with some rest and donated devil energy."

Ranma did a quick field check on Yusuke to verify what Botan had said. He soon confirmed her statement and his body relaxed like a ten ton vest had been shrugged off. The teen devil turned to Botan and bowed his head. Ranma then spoke while still bowing, "Thank you for saving my rook Botan. This means more to me then I can properly say."

"No problem Ranma," Botan said with a slight blush on her face. She hadn't been expecting or planning for any sort of reward or recognition when she saved Yusuke. Actually, she hadn't really thought about things other than trying to figure out how to help Yusuke when she wasn't really a fighter.

Ranma straightened up from his bow and then turned to his father. "Pops, I need to use the phone to make a call."

Genma blinked his eyes in surprise and scratched his head. "Why would you need to use the phone boy? Don't you have a cell phone of your own? Besides, don't you usually use a spell to communicate to someone down in the Underworld?"

Ranma held out his Devilberry so that his father could see it. "This is on an infernal phone plan. That plan does not cover mortal phone calls. Such calls are outside the plan and they have absolutely brutal per minute costs. I need to contact Yusuke's mother and let her know that Yusuke is alright, but staying with me. Yusuke doesn't want his mother to know he's a devil now so I can't use any supernatural means to contact her. The apartment phone has unlimited free local calls so can I use it to save some money?"

That was good enough for Genma. It was a virtue for Ranma to be trying to save money where he could. If the boy was free with his money then he'd get lazy enjoying easily paid for comfort. Genma gruffly said, "Alright. Just make the call quick." He watched as his son nodded his head in agreement and walked into the kitchen where the apartment's phone was at. The sole human in the apartment then turned to look at Yusuke. The middle schooler was getting a supply of devil power from Ryu and Ryoga to help him heal.

Genma turned his gaze to Botan and fought back the urge to frown. Yusuke and the rest of Ranma's peerage were the future masters of Anything Goes once Ranma became the grand master. He didn't want to see one of them cut down before their time. Besides, Yusuke was growing on him. The brat was a decent kid; he just lacked any sort of proper male guidance growing up. He probably would have to take up role of uncle figure for him since Ranma seemed to be becoming Yusuke's big brother figure. There could be worse people for that role.

Ranma walked back into the room a minute later with a satisfied look on his face. He turned to his father and said, "Thanks Pops. Everything is taken care of on that end."

Ryu turned his head towards his king and said, "So what did you tell Yusuke's mom?"

The young king shrugged his shoulders and said, "Some creative editing of the truth. Yusuke stumbled upon a fugitive who managed to land a lucky blow where Yusuke was still a little sore from his car accident. A friend spotted the altercation and created a ruckus to scare the fugitive away thinking that the authorities were on the way. Said friend then carried Yusuke to me knowing that I'd keep him safe."

* * *

A devil teleportation seal appeared on the roof of the apartment complex Ranma was staying at. The light quickly vanished and Sona blinked her eyes to deal with the slight disorientation she momentarily felt. She then started to look around with a determined look on her face. Soon enough she spotted Ranma and then Sona frowned. Ranma was lazily sitting on the roof of the maintenance door with one foot lying off of the roof and the knee of the bent up. Her nephew's arms were wrapped around the upright leg and his devil wings were out.

The fact that Ranma had his devil wings out was very surprising and worrying to Sona. Ranma sitting on a roof was a bad enough sign on its own. Sona knew that Ranma always tried to relax in a high spot when he was worried or frustrated about something. Having his wings out while on a roof was Ranma's tell that he wanted to fly away from whatever was bothering him.

Sona looked up at Ranma in the dying sunlight and softly spoke, "Ranma." The young devil turned his head to face Sona an instant after she said his name. Sona fought back the urge to blush and continued to speak. "Would you mind if I came up there with you?"

Ranma snorted and gruffly replied, "Why the heaven not? It's not like I own the roof." He then watched as Sona casually jumped up into the air and daintily landed on the roof next to him. A casual onlooker who was aware of the duo's heritage might have thought Sona had used magic to get up onto the roof. That was not the case as she simply needed to use some basic martial arts training. Many of the basic aspects of the Saotome Branch of Anything Goes had been incorporated into the main Sitri family's training even if it hadn't spread to the Sitri Clan yet. Being able to casually leap several stories and not burn magical energy was nothing to scoff at. Ranma asked as Sona sat down next to him. "Why are you here?"

The Sitri heiress looked out at the city skyline to help hide how nervous she was. She then said, "Ryu contacted me. I've requested that he notify me if ever there was something seriously bothering you Ranma that I might be able to help solve."

An annoyed look crossed Ranma's face. "I'll have to have words with Ryu later. He shouldn't be going behind my back like that."

"He hasn't gone behind your back Ranma. One of a Second's responsibilities is to look after their King. It's his duty to seek out aid for you if there is someone else who can help you better than him with a problem. I've merely made it known to him that I am willing to help on this matter if I am able to help. Now, what has Ryu so worried? He didn't tell me when he called for my assistance."

Technically, Sona was correct when she said that Ryu hadn't told her about why he called. Ryoga told her when he went to go get her. This way Sona wasn't going into the situation blind while she and Ryu could truthfully say he hadn't told her a thing.

Ranma's wing extended itself and then protectively wrapped around Sona practically cloaking her. The usual concealment spell on the wings wasn't applied allowing their true state which looked like utterly massive and powerful bat like wings as seen in older western art to be shown. These abnormally large wings were the result of constant training by Ranma in developing the muscle power needed to use his wings to fly without magic. This fact was hidden with a concealment spell by Ranma so he could catch enemies unaware. Magical flight in combat took a fairly significant amount of magical power to be usable.

Sona resisted the urge to snuggle into Ranma's wing which was enthrallingly dark, concealing, and radiated a sense of power. She listened as Ranma related the situation Yusuke was in to her and she took note of the facts that Ranma was adding that Ryu didn't know about and the facts that Ranma was omitting. Finally and yet all too soon, Ranma had finished explaining things to Sona. He turned his head to look at her with an obvious question on his face.

The young heiress took a second to think and then said, "There are two problems with your current situation which is leading you to be in such a terrible state Ranma. First there is the fact that one of your peerage members is in danger because of having to do a mission he is not really ready to handle. Sadly, there really isn't much that can be done to solve that problem. Maybe you can find some information on the trio that stole the artifacts to give Yusuke an edge. However, you have to be hands off in this situation and let Ryu or Ryoga help Yusuke out if things get too dicey."

A twitch appeared on Ranma's face and that caused Sona's eyes to narrow slightly to drive the point home. "That leads into the second problem you're facing Ranma. You have a very hard time not being in the heart of the action."

"What?"

Sona gave Ranma a knowing glance and continued on. "I've seen the battle feeds of your stray devil hunts that you keep for study. You are always leading from the center and you almost always take point. Twice you've even called Ryu off of fighting a stray in order to fight it yourself."

Ranma's cheeks started to blush and he nervously said. "Well, um, you see," he stopped at that point as embarrassment overtook him.

Sona smiled gently at Ranma and reached out with her hand to place it on Ranma's shoulder. "It's alright Ranma. You are a devil of pride and you work hard at the things your pride is focused on. That's more than what most pride devils can say. I'm a devil of pride myself remember? But, one thing we both need to be aware of is when our pride is influencing our actions."

A sheepish smile appeared on Ranma's face. "I guess you're about that Sona."

"I know I'm right Ranma. You take pride in your combat abilities while I take pride in my intellectual abilities. One thing we both need to do is to remember to take pride in our peerages and our peerage member abilities. I might not have an answer to a problem, but my queen or another member will. You may not be the best person for a task, but your peerage members can like Yusuke is doing now."

With that said, the duo quietly turned to look at the almost completely set sun with determination and anticipation. A new night was falling with seemingly endless possibilities for both of them.

* * *

Author's notes: Sorry this chapter took so long. Life, other hobbies, and questions about pacing delayed this chapter. One of the main points of this part of Ranma Sitri is the building of the peerage. All too often in High School DxD crossovers if the character crossing over is made a high class devil on introduction they come with an almost full peerage. Said peerage is almost always filled with women from different anime series who serve as the core of the character's harem. One of the questions I'm exploring is how does one get different characters from different series to join the peerage and grow together as a group.


	8. Chapter 8

Sona and Rias were busy with one of their usual chess games that the second year students constantly challenged each other to when they got the chance. Currently, Sona had a slight advantage over Rias with her piece placement. That knowledge didn't cause Sona to get comfortable in the slightest. Defeat could be snatched from the jaws of victory with a single moment of inattention or not considering a potential strategy.

Rias looked up from her pieces and ask, "So Sona. Have you gotten any new prospects for your peerage recently?"

The Sitri heiress shook her head slightly and replied, "I haven't seen any prime prospects recently. I've noted about a dozen prospects that I'm willing to deem tolerable in a pinch. It is just fortunate for me that I don't have to resort to those prospects at the moment."

A small frown briefly appeared on Rias's face when she heard Sona's response. She hadn't had much luck recently finding good future peerage members either and had been hoping for some good leads. The memory of a rumor she had heard made Rias's face light up slightly as she thought of a different angle of attack. While moving her knight to threaten Sona's queen the Gremory devil slyly said, "I've heard that there have been some new devils added to Clan Sitri by the main family. Did you happen to get any new peerage members via trade?"

"No" Sona quickly replied and then rebuffed Rias. "You should know better than to listen to rumors about someone in the clan trading peerage members. We might not be known for being overly affectionate for our subjects like some clans, but the Sitri Clan takes pride in maintaining its oaths. One of those oaths is to protect and help those sworn to us. I doubt you'll ever find a member of the clan willing to send a subordinate out of the clan."

Rias quickly countered. "That doesn't stop you or anyone else from trading your unused pieces for a peerage member."

That was done by many devils, especially young devils when their parents wanted to transfer a guardian or two. It also happened when lower ranked devils married between clans. One higher ranking devil in one of couple's clan would exchange an unused piece with a high ranking devil of the other clan. This insured that no devil had split loyalties. However, it wasn't something that members of the Sitri clan did very often if ever. The clan's culture of respecting oaths of duty made all clan members leery about shifting around someone allegiances even within the clan. Trading someone into and especially out of the clan was almost unthinkable.

Sona's eyes narrowed slightly at the offensive suggestion and then calmed down. She reminded herself that Rias didn't mean anything harmful by the suggestion. It was just Rias being her typical self-centered and lazy self. Sona then reminded herself that her own condescending attitude on Rias was her own sins talking.

Keeping an eye on and recognizing one's sins was something all devil children were taught. However, the Sitris took it a step further and tried to teach everyone in the clan to recognize what the different sins drove them and other devils to do. Part of this had to do with the fact that Pride was an extremely common sin in the Sitri Clan. They were better than most devil clans because they recognized some of the truths about being devils and tempered themselves to use their vices in a semi constructive manner.

Rias was the devil outside the Sitri clan that Sona was most familiar with in terms of understanding her sins. Sona knew her dear friend was a devil of Greed with a secondary developing sin of Sloth. Rias was slightly odd for a Greed-type because she coveted status rather than more material things. Being the most popular girl, the darling of her parents, and the fame of being Heiress to the Gremory Clan were held dearly by Rias. Sona also knew that Rias preferred to put the least amount of effort into doing things that she could unless the task in question was important to her and happening immediately.

Part of the reason why Sona was so familiar with these aspects of Rias was due to how they grated on Ranma. Her nephew sins were Pride with a touch of Gluttony and he knew how to channel them very well. Sona had seen Ranma push himself past his limits and then reward himself with a fine meal while gloating about what he had accomplished. This attitude was very different from Rias. He saw Rias as lazy and mainly concerned with frivolous, to put things more politely than Ranma did, things that wouldn't matter in a couple of years. Rias saw Ranma as a crass musclebound caricature of a jock without the womanizing traits.

Keeping Ranma and Rias apart made things so much easier for Sona which was why she was reluctant to clarify things. Finally, she sighed after a moment and said, "The new additions to the Sitri Clan are due to Ranma acquiring two rooks."

The mention of Ranma's name caused Rias' lips to curl for a second like she had tasted something sour. She also paused holding a pawn piece in her hand for a few seconds before putting it back in place. It was obvious to Sona that Rias really wanted to change the conversation, but was at a loss for how to do it without wounding her pride. Sona drank in Rias' discomfort without visually giving any sign of her enjoyment of her friend's suffering. She did have a secondary sin of Envy and it always irked Sona how Rias could seemingly breeze through so much on luck.

As Sona cultivated her second sin to be mostly benign envy instead of malicious envy, she soon decided to help Rias out. "So Rias, how go your efforts to get your engagement changed?" Just because Sona threw Rias a bone did not preclude Sona from trying to hit Rias in the head with it.

Rias's eyes narrowed in frustration and she spoke in an aggravated tone. "I still can't get through to my father or my brother. Riser is nothing more than an arrogant peacock that views me as some sort of trophy he gets just for being a high class devil!"

Sona listened to Rias's complaints with half an ear as she had heard all of them many times before. She would have offered some advice if she thought there was a shadows' chance in heaven of Rias actually listening to her advice on the subject. However, Sona and learned years ago that any advice she could give on this matter was going to go in one ear and out the other.

The real problem with Rias's arguments against her marriage was that they were the arguments of a spoiled little girl wanting her way and not the arguments of a young heir looking out of the best interests of their clan. Riser was a playboy! How was that really any news? Riser was open and flaunted his dalliances, but most high class devils had a romantic interest or two on the side. Reproductive fidelity and the preservation of clan ties were the main focus of devil marriage. Sona had once caught her and Rias's mothers in a heavy S & M session with each other. He doesn't see me as just Rias! That was a foolish statement since Rias and Sona were far more than simple high school girls. Sona was well aware that her rank and position was tied to the advantages she enjoyed and that it came with a cost. The only way Rias could truly be 'just Rias' was if she abandoned Clan Gremory and its assets.

Sona could see several arguments that Rias could have used to point out that Riser didn't bring in that much for the Gremory Clan's benefit. Heaven, she had used a couple of those arguments herself before issuing her challenge to get rid of her unwanted fiancé. Sona could have issued a challenge without a stated reason as was her right. Having a proper reason allowed Sona to choose her challenge to her unwanted fiancé instead of having to resort to a Rating Game. That let her set a challenge to test the worm's "perceived deficiencies" and proverbially stack the deck in her favor. It also mitigated the potential social repercussions that could have occurred from her challenging and then ending her engagement. Sona was held as a wise and clear sighted young heiress for spotting a potential issue that her parents had overlooked and not as a whinny brat.

Eventually, Rias stopped ranting and ended the chess game in a tie. The Gremory heiress then got up to leave after quickly arranging for a rematch. Sona let out a sigh of regret once Rias left her room. She worried about Rias, she really did, and she didn't want her old friend to be miserable. However, it seemed to her that Rias was setting herself up to be knocked on her ass with her living in the moment and it will all work out somehow attitude. There wasn't much that Sona was able to do given that she wasn't in the same clan as Rias. All she could do was hope that something else would wake Rias up in time.

* * *

Kurama was surprised to find himself opening his eyes again. The last thing he could recall was using the Forlorn Hope to save his mother. All his eyes could see at the moment was blurry light. He spoke without intending to saying, "Am I in Reikai?"

A voice he didn't recognize surprised Kurama by replying. "No, but you are going to be reporting there in a few days to fill out some after action reports about how you raided King Enma's treasury. Your mother Shiori Minamino wanted me to tell you that your grounded Shuichi. I'm still playing go between for her and Koenma to figure out when your grounding can be temporarily lifted so that you can fill out those reports."

That bit of news caused Kurama's face to become deathly white and his eyes widened in shock. His vision came into focus. He muttered out in shock, "My mother?"

Ranma nodded his head and said, "Your mother Shuichi or do you prefer Kurama when dealing with the moonlight world? I'm Ranma Sitri and I'm the one who saved your butt after you killed yourself using the Forlorn Hope. Yusuke contacted me after he saw you used the mirror and asked me to save you. I had to use a spell to speed up your mother's perception of time so that I could inform her about what was going on and get her permission to resurrect you before it became too late."

Getting stuck in a jurisdiction pissing match with Koenma was not on Ranma's to do list for the rest of his life. Shiori with her permission as Kurama's mother trumped anything any member of any supernatural faction could bring to claim on Kurama. Memory of the conversation and the permission had also been sent to Koenma via priority message when Ranma had been rushing to get to Kurama. So far, Ranma hadn't heard a peep about Kurama's resurrection almost a day later. It was fairly safe to say by this point that he was officially in the clear on this mess.

Kurama narrowed his eyes and muttered, "Sitri I know I've heard that name before. Isn't that part of the European Ayakashi? I'm sorry, but my knowledge of the supernatural outside of Makai and to a lesser extent Reikai is very limited. You and your companion Yusuke feel somewhat like yokai, but not like any breed I've ever encountered before. There are significant differences in how you feel from how any yokai I've meet feels."

Ranma shrugged his shoulders and said, "Not a problem. I'm from the Sitri Clan of the Devils which are a race that make up one of the three Biblical Factions. As your next question is probably something like how did I save you let me get that out of the way. I used some devil magic to resurrect you by turning you into a devil. You're now considered part of the Sitri Clan and you are my direct vassal until you grow strong enough to become a high class devil. There is more we need to go over at the proper time, but you can relax and enjoy your third shot at life while you and your mother are protected by our clan."

At this point Kurama's mind needed to reboot. Having his species changed on him wasn't what threw him for a loop. That wasn't that big of a shock the second time around. It was the fact that his mother knew something about what had happened with him. This was Kurama's greatest fear ever since he realized that he loved his mother. With a stutter he asked, "How much does she know?"

Ranma hopped onto the foot of the bed and explained while in a crouched position. "She knows that in your past life you were a kitsune thief and that when you were reborn as her son you somehow kept most of your memories of your previous life. You used your memories and inherited skills to locate and steal a dangerous magical artifact in order to save her life. Said magical artifact happened to require your own life to use."

A wistful look appeared on Ranma face and then he said, "Can't say I blame you. If my mom was in a similar condition I'd probably do the same thing. However, your mother wasn't too thrilled at the idea of living at the cost of your life. She couldn't agree fast enough to give me permission to resurrect you. We were only recently able to get her to sleep on the couch as she's been up most of the day by your bedside waiting for you to get up."

Unshed tears started to form in Kurama's eyes. For years he had been afraid of what might happen if his mother found out about his past. He wasn't sure if it was the fact that he had the soul of a yokai or the fact that he had been a thief that he had been more afraid of being discovered. It was a great burden lifted off of his soul to realize that his mother could know about him and still want him. Somehow Kurama was able to find the words and whispered out, "Thank you."

Ranma shrugged and replied, "No problem man. You're a part of my peerage now which makes it my duty to look after you and yours. How about you just rest up for now? You'll be feeling weaker than most newly reincarnated devils given what you put yourself through before I revived you. I also haven't been able to take you to one of our clan's hospitals since they are in the Underworld and it wouldn't be safe for a regular human like your mother to go there on short notice. Everything is alright; you just need a little more time to recover."

Kurama smiled and replied, "Rest sounds good right now." He then closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

A small frown appeared on Ranma face as he watched his first bishop sleep off the remaining effects of reincarnation shock. He still didn't know whether his bishop preferred to be called Kurama or Shuichi. He could end up bouncing between the two depending on who he was with at any time. Ranma couldn't fault him for that if he chose such an action since he did the same thing with his last name. The higher rank devil then pulled the comforter up on his newest peerage member and left the room.

Ranma immediately entered his apartment's living room and spotted Shiori resting on the couch with the main blanket from his bed on her. The stress she must be under was almost mind boggling. Within a day she had gone from a widowed mother with terminal cancer on her death bed to having her cancer suddenly disappear. Before she got time to fully realize or even enjoy this fact she gets thrown into the deep end of the supernatural and finds out that her miracle cure came at the cost of her only child's life. Then she had to decide whether it was better to leave her son in the grave or to transform him into something many regarded as evil in order to keep him alive. The fact that she was still sane and even coherent when awake was amazing.

Hopefully, Pops would help Shiori out with dealing with having a child who lived in the moonlight world. Ranma had other things to worry about at the moment as he summoned his laptop. The finances for his new bishop had to be activated. Putting the stipends for his unused pieces into various savings and investment accounts had paid off nicely. There was more than enough money earmarked for Ranma to pay for Shiori's hospital trip, renew the lease on the Minamino apartment, order fresh groceries for the Minaminos, and give Shiori funds to help her as she looked for a new job.

Once his bishop's immediate needs were handled, Ranma started to see what he could do to help Shiori get a job once she was ready to go back to work. It didn't make much sense to him to look out for the immediate needs of his peerage without thinking about what they'd need long term. Having Shiori get a job would both insure that his bishop's basic needs were taken care of without using clan resources and improve the mood of his new vassal's home. A quick search soon revealed that Shiori had worked as an administrative assistant before the cancer advanced too far.

Perhaps he could open up a position for her at Yusuke's school? There were several teachers at Yusuke's school that Ranma wanted to remove for not doing their jobs properly and even worse, attacking his rook. Adding that secretary who hadn't prepared Yusuke's study packet onto his list of people to be sacked wasn't a problem. She might even be useful to the devils he was planning on contracting to do the removals. Maybe they would set things up to look like she was having an affair with the teachers in question? Who could say?

Ranma pulled up another app and sent off an order for the removal of the secretary, Mr. Akashi, and Mr. Iwamoto from the school and the educational system in general. Devils had a private job board that they could post tasks or outsource wishes involving things they weren't proficient in handling. The only constraints Ranma put on his order request was that all three had to be alive after they were removed, their removal couldn't damage the careers of anyone else, and that property damage was to be minimal if not non-existent. Several offers quickly popped up and Ranma selected one that looked promising. A price was agreed on and then the contract was finalized.

In a few days, Ranma could work more on getting Shiori a job once she had adjusted to reality. It could be a side project to the bigger issue facing him. How was he going to lead his peerage and get its members to work together? In less than two months his peerage had gone from one person besides him to four additional persons. He needed to figure out how to plan group tactics and group training. This was going to be a headache and a half for him.

* * *

Yusuke would have gladly traded headaches with Ranma if he knew what was bothering his king at this very moment. The punk rook was in a warehouse staring down Hiei who was holding Keiko hostage. Hiei glared at Yusuke and called out, "Where are the other two treasures?"

The reincarnated devil put a hand in his pocket while he brought the other hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Just how foolish do you think I am? If I gave you the other two treasures you'd probably kill Keiko to spite me. Then we'd get into a big fight which would lead to me having to kill you to avenge Keiko. Here's my counter offer. You leave the sword of darkness on the ground, let Keiko go free, and I let you leave reporting back to Koenma that you've vanished without a trace. As far as I'm aware the only harm you done since taking the sword is testing it out on trees and taking Keiko. So long as Keiko comes back safely I don't see a reason to kill you. My contractor gets the sword back, I get Keiko back, and you get the reputation of the only demon to successfully raid King Enma and escape to tell the tale."

Hiei glare intensified as his anger rose. He snarled and said, "I think it's time you learn that I'm a demon of my word. Let me show you what this sword can do with your friend here."

Instantly, Yusuke crushed the pearl in his pocket and channeled some devil energy into his forehead activating the preset spell placed there. Ryoga was next to Hiei a blink of an eye later delivering a powerful haymaker to the demon's face while grabbing hold of Keiko. He sent a questioning look to Yusuke as Hiei flew into a crate. Yusuke shook his head and then Ryoga nodded in reply. The fanged rook then activated his Sacred Gear again vanishing with Keiko to safety.

Yusuke closed his eyes and broke the shared sight spell that Ryu had cast on him and Ryoga now that Keiko was safe. He shook his head and forced himself to ignore the headache that the spell had given him. Part of the rook wished that there had been no need for the spell. However, it was the only way to insure that Ryoga would have the information he'd need to teleport in and get Keiko to safety without alerting Hiei.

Said diminutive fire demon jumped back to where he was before Ryoga blindsided him and started to look around. Hiei then growled and turned to face Yusuke. "Detective, where is the girl?"

Yusuke smirked and replied, "Safe from here. I had a friend teleport her out of here."

Hiei adjusted his grip on the Sword of Darkness and said, "Seems your friend forgot about this sword and you."

The punk devil rolled his shoulders and said, "Nope. I just had him get Keiko out of here. I can take you down and get that sword that the client wants back myself. I just didn't want Keiko to risk getting hurt while I smack you down."

Hiei snorted and replied, "I see you're one of those types. The kind that just won't stop fighting if someone they care about is in danger. I despise people like you."

Yusuke rolled his eyes and shot back. "Will you quit your yapping? You sound like a professional wrestler with that kind of trash talk."

The conversation ended with Hiei jumping up and slashing with the sword of darkness to keep Yusuke from attacking him mid jump. Hiei then charged forward and thrusted the sword at Yusuke. Thankfully, Ranma's training in hell with Yusuke kicked in and he was able to easily dodge to the side of Hiei's thrust. Yusuke then clamped down on the blade with one hand using his rook enhanced strength and toughness. The Sword of Darkness was stopped cold and Hiei was jarred into hitting the hilt of the sword.

Yusuke was never one to let an opening pass in a fight and he instantly kicked Hiei in the groin. He then followed up with a Devil Gun shot in the gut to make sure that Hiei was out like a light. The rook then dropped the Sword of Darkness and examined his hand to find no scratches from the blade. "Huh, I guess Ranma's attempts to skewer me with that sword actually paid off."

Ryu suddenly appeared having dropped the umisenken behind Yusuke and critiqued the rook. "Obviously not enough if your first reaction was to grab the blade and not the hand holding the blade Yusuke."

This caused Yusuke to jump in the air in fright and let out a small cry of surprise. Yusuke turned around to look at Ryu and said, "What the heaven man? I got the sword and beat the demon so stop riding my ass. Besides, why are you here?"

The senior peerage member walked over to Hiei and bound him. As he was doing this Ryu lectured his junior. "Grabbing a blade, especially a cursed blade, is a last resort Yusuke. You go for the wrist first when trying to disarm someone barehanded. I saw from your actions that you could have gone for the wrist and chose the blade to show off. Don't do that again. You may be far stronger than you were as a human, but there are still stronger and tougher things out there. Or perhaps you've already forgotten about that Kyukonki that kicked your ass the first time you fought it?"

Ryu looked up after double checking the ties bounding Hiei. "It should be obvious why I'm here Yusuke. Nearly losing you once on this assignment was too much for Ranma. He wanted me to shadow you and step in if things got dire for you. Honestly, the only reason he isn't here himself watching out for you is because he apparently needs to learn to delegate to his peerage."

Yusuke put his hands in his pockets and looked down at the sword. "I can handle myself just fine. I don't need a babysitter."

That caused Ryu walk over and smack Yusuke on the head. "Don't insult me by calling me a babysitter. I was here as backup, not to complete the mission for you. Besides, Ranma's taking a hit just to make sure you're okay."

That fact caused Yusuke to blink his eyes in shock. "What? Hey, what do you mean Ranma's taking a hit for me?"

Ryu promptly explained, "Everyone's earnings from missions and mission counts are public knowledge if one knows where to look. A big portion of a young high devil's status is tied to the earnings they take in from their peerage and in turn pass on in their tithes. I'm not completing contracts when I'm out here looking after you and I'm a steady earner for Ranma. Our king is perfectly willing to sacrifice some standing with his peers just to make sure you're okay. For a devil of Pride, that's a big sacrifice."

Yusuke's mouth opened and closed like a fish as he tried to understand what he had just been told. It hadn't quite hit home until just that moment for Yusuke that Ranma really cared about him. Sure, Ranma had revived him, trained him, and got tutors for him. However, part of Yusuke was able to cynically rationalize Ranma's actions. It made sense that Ranma would train him since he could only have a limited number of people in his peerage. Ranma had told him that he had gotten him tutors because of some deal his king had made with said king's mother depended on his peerage's grades in school. It had been nice for Yusuke since Ranma was always upfront and didn't try to bullshit him.

As hard as it was to believe, someone other than Keiko actually cared about him. Someone actually cared for the immature, smoking, drinking, and bastard punk known as Yusuke Urameshi. Memories of the past month flashed through Yusuke's mind and this new point was hammered home when relooking at Ranma's actions towards him.

Ranma had always been tough at times during training, but he never let him get hurt beyond what a minute of basic healing spells could fix. He gave him instructions on how to improve and praised him when he succeeded. The praises were short, but honest and more than Yusuke was used to getting. Then there was the fact that Ranma covered for him with his mom because he didn't want her to know about the whole being a devil thing. Yet, Ranma had told him that he'd always have a place to stay even if Ranma had to arrange it for him.

The pawn watched the neophyte rook as he had the moment. It was something that every reincarnated devil in Clan Sitri had when they realized just how much their respective king really cared about them. They usually hid it behind duty and tough love when you messed up, but everyone born in the Sitri clan deeply cared for their servants. Only the Gremory Clan equaled the Sitri when it came to how much they cared. The difference was in how the members of the two clans showed that they cared. Gremories showered their servants with affection and gifts while trying to force any problems out of sight. Sitris gave their servants the tools and drive to succeed while neutralizing any threats to the servants that might arise.

Unshed tears started to form in Yusuke's eyes as he looked at Ryu. The pawn didn't say anything, but his eyes said everything that Yusuke needed to know. He had been in the same place Yusuke was in right at this moment and that everything Yusuke was realizing was real. It took Yusuke a minute to reign in his emotions. Ryu spoke after the rook had everything under control. "Let's get that sword and that demon over to Koenma. There should still be some time to hit the arcade once you wrap up your first major assignment."

Yusuke nodded his head and grinned at Ryu. "Yeah, that sounds like a plan to me."

* * *

Authors note: I've gotten some questions via PM about this story and thought I'd answer them all here. First off, Ranma will NOT be paired with Rias. Their personalities grate on each other at this stage of their growth. It's also not politically beneficial for their clans if they were to marry. Either the Gremory or the Sitri would lose someone near the top of the chain of succession and the resulting children would not be purebloods. That's a good thing in this story genetically, but not politically. If Rias had to marry Ranma instead of Riser she wouldn't issue a rating game to get out, but she be complaining all the way down the aisle so loudly that Michael and Gabriel could hear her.

Second, there is the question of when in the timeline this all is happening. This story's timeline is currently roughly a year before High School DxD and Ranma ½ start while at the start of Yu Yu Hakusho. Sona and Rias are currently 2 year high school students. Issei, Ranma, and Ryoga are currently 1 year high school students. Finally, Team Urameshi are in their final year of middle school.


	9. Chapter 9

Koenma guided Ranma through the lower sections of his castle in Reikai. The childish looking god glanced at the young devil lord for a split second. Ranma was a puzzle to Koenma as he couldn't quite get feel for the boy. He wasn't like most noble youths who needed a generous smacking from real life to wake them up and see that they didn't fart rainbows. Koenma would privately admit that he acted childish in his child form as a form of stress relief. However, he didn't let that get in the way of doing his stressful job day in and day out without vacation.

Two other facts also stood out to Koenma about his current companion. One, Ranma let his accomplishments speak for themselves. That gave the young devil a very large and well-earned sense of pride. Ranma apparently wasn't one for boasting about his family name; he proudly stated his own accomplishments. Second, Ranma was protective of his vassals. Ranma's hostile attitude to him a few days ago was out of concern for Yusuke. It was not about Ranma feeling like he was being cheated out of some earnings. The recordings Koenma's private worm in the pearl blackout spells had from Yusuke's battle with Hiei proved that fact. It was truth to Koenma that one could learn more about a person by how they treated their subordinates than one could learn by chatting with a person.

Koenma's own ogres knew that he had their backs no matter how much grief he gave them to vent his stress at their thankless jobs. He worked the same hours they did and he was the first to work late if the influx of souls demanded it. If an ogre honestly needed a day off for a legitimate reason Koenma was willing to cover their work for them. It was an unspoken truth in Rekai that while King Enma was Rekai's lord most of Rekai's civil servants gave their loyalty to Koenma. This was a truth that Koenma discreetly tried to hide from his father so that his father's jealousy didn't get aroused.

The fact that Ranma willing to take a hit to his public standings by decreasing his tithes in order to protect Yusuke was the only reason that Koenma had even considered offering the form of payment for 'contract violations' that he was about to offer. Koenma lead Ranma into a clean bare room that looked very much like one would expect to find in a prison for talking to an inmate. The deity then turned to Ranma and said, "I have called you here today per Standard retainer contract section 4, paragraph 2 to pay the penalties for assigning Retainer Urameshi a task beyond his expected abilities. I offer the following two options for restitution. The first option is that I pay the standard ransom price for a servant of Retainer Urameshi's worth. The second is a prisoner who is to serve you in any manner you deem fit."

Ranma blinked his eyes in surprised when he heard Koenma's second payment offer. That was not something he expected to hear when he had been brought in today by Botan. Koenma asking for a full report about what had happened to Yusuke was the main expected reason for him being here. Koenma quietly handing over the rather considerable fine he owed Ranma was the second biggest reason. However, Ranma hadn't expected the offer of increasing his peerage at all.

The young devil blinked his eyes for a few seconds and then regained his train of thought. He turned to Koenma and said, "I am willing to consider taking the prisoner as restitution. However, before I agree to do so I want to read your files on the prisoner and talk to him or her. No offense, but a Reikai prisoner who I won't get a useful service out of or at least a good ransom is not of much use to me."

Koenma briefly smiled behind his pacifier when he heard that comment. It was good to see that Ranma had some brains working in that head of his. Koenma knew that the boy was intelligence, but in never hurt to double check these things. Nobles could do foolish things like pay people to do their thinking for them. He had run out dozens of would be section leaders who thought their name meant that they were qualified for the job.

A packet appeared in Koenma's hand and he handed it to Ranma. Koenma then motioned to the table by the clear glass which had a chair. "Sit and read the file Ranma. If you want to then meet the prisoner you can have one of my assistants summon him. If you don't want the prisoner then just return the file to the guard over there and he'll escort you to the treasury to make a withdrawal. Sorry I can't stay much longer, but the paperwork is piling up on my desk."

Ranma nodded his head in thanks and sat down to read the file. The file was on Hiei much to Ranma's surprise. Why the heaven would Koenma want to give him one of the thieves who stole from King Enma? After a few seconds he decided that Koenma was trying to clean up the loose ends from that little debacle. It was much easier to deny everything if there wasn't any evidence sitting around for King Enma to find. The file was surprisingly complete for a D-rank Makai yokai. A little reading revealed that Hiei's background information came from an information hack on a Shigure the Osteopath who was apparently doctor of some renown in Makai. The doctor was apparently the one who gave Hiei his Jagan.

For almost an hour Ranma carefully read the report and considered his options. Hiei was a killer first and foremost. The teen had 227 confirmed kills and was reputed to have slain roughly another 300 demons whose demise could not be verified. Granted, the kills were all in Makai where killing came almost as easy as breathing. This was especially true given the area that Hiei grew up in. There was also the fact that none of Hiei's confirmed or supposed kills were innocent or even supposedly decent beings.

It wasn't like Ranma had clean hands either. He did have the highest kill count in his age group with 38 strays to his name. Having someone capable and willing to kill would also be useful for his future duties as Sona's chief enforcer for Clan Sitri. With a bit of training, Hiei would make a powerful warrior and a reliable assassin for the clan. It wasn't something Ranma was particularly thrilled about thinking. However, his honor as a member of Clan Sitri was going to be tied to some dark things at times for the good of the clan. He could only hope that Sona didn't require him to take such steps often when the two of them ascended to their future posts.

There was one critical fact that Ranma was extremely troubled by from reading the report. He was pretty sure that he could get Hiei to work with the rest of his peerage in time. But, the only way that Ranma could see Hiei agreeing to join and not go stray rested on Hiei's sister. According to Grandpa's lessons, people like Hiei needed a reason to stay loyal long enough to form real bonds with a group. There was more to that lesson that had been given to him. However, Ranma couldn't really remember all of the particulars since it was a lesson he had to learn instead of a lesson he wanted to learn. Reading people and knowing how they ticked socially was Sona's specialty not his.

Ranma closed his eyes and dredged up every memory he could on lessons useful to his current situation. He knew that he was facing a challenge in an area he was weak in and that a single mistake would result in failure. Ranma opened his eyes a few minutes later and asked the guard to bring Hiei in. Ranma calmly watched as Hiei was led in on the other side of the barrier wearing an orange prison jumpsuit.

Hiei was led to the seat opposite Ranma and motioned to sit down. The fire demon snorted as he sat down. He looked at Ranma for a second and then said, "Who are you the new warden?"

Ranma shook his head and replied, "I am Lord Ranma Sitri, Margrave in Clan Sitri and Heir of the Blood. You had a previous encounter with my vassal Yusuke Urameshi who is currently serving a retainer contract with Lord Koenma. Facing off against you and your accomplices was more than what my initial contract with Lord Koenma allowed for and he owes me a penalty. We are meeting because I want to see if having you join my services would be an acceptable penalty."

Hiei turned his head slightly to the side and asked, "What's in it for me? I don't see any reason to work for you."

The young devil calmly replied, "For starters agreeing to serve me gets you out of Reikai prison. I cannot imagine you want to spend the next several centuries of your life in a cell. Loyal service to me and my clan brings with it access to resources, wealth, prestige, and eventually manpower from your own vassals. There are responsibilities and obligations that come with this service, but there isn't a big point in talking about them if you're not even interested." Ranma knew he had to bait Hiei properly. Mentioning his sister too soon would get the demon defensive.

Hiei raised an eyebrow as he considered what Ranma had just told him. He then said, "Just what would these responsibilities and obligations entail? Sitting in a cell may not be interesting, but it would be better than doing humiliating tasks for you."

This was good for Ranma. Hiei was showing interest in the offer and now Ranma needed to reel him in. "If you accept my offer to join my peerage your responsibilities will be as follows. You will accompany me into battle and follow my orders. From time to time you will have to carry out important tasks that might need to be completed like seeing that a secret document arrives at a particular destination safely. You will also have to complete contracts like I and the rest of peerage do. Finally, if you choose to adopt an identity in the human world you will have to go to school and maintain a certain scholastic standing due to a prior commitment I made to my mother."

"I know that these are serious responsibilities that will be required of you Hiei. However, I will also have responsibilities to you as your king if you join my peerage. It will be my responsibility to insure that you are cared for in terms of basic needs such as food, shelter, and clothing. You would come under my authority meaning that I will have to answer for any actions you take while in my peerage. Your safety and that of your family will also come under my protection. Any enemies or persons holding a grudge against you will have to get through the full might of Clan Sitri before they can get to you."

Hiei's eyes widened slightly for a second when he heard that last part. "What was that about safety for me and my family? Do I look like a family man to you?"

Ranma kept his face calm so as not to chase Hiei away. The devil knew he had hooked Hiei and was reeling him into the peerage. "It is a responsibility of mine to my peerage and I am trying to give you a complete picture of what will happen if you decide to be reincarnated as a devil. That is what we call having a non-devil join a peerage since the non-devil is changed into a devil keeping the special traits and advantages of their original species. Three of my peerage members have family on Earth and all of them have been tagged as under my protection. In addition to monitoring spells I also have an emergency teleport spell tagged for each of them." Those teleport spells were designed to have a nasty explosion for whoever was near the tagged individual when they are teleported out. It was standard practice for any spell used to protect someone under the Aegis of the Sitri Clan.

Hiei closed his eyes for a second resigning himself to something. He then opened them again and said, "Very well then Lord Ranma. I'm willing to follow you as a member of your peerage."

* * *

Shiori Minamino walked into the Saotome apartment still feeling a little weak and slightly dazed. Most people who knew her assumed her state was because of the miraculous remission of her cancer. That was true, but only from a certain point of view. Shiori was in her current state because of what Shuichi had done to cause her miraculous remission. She loved her son and was proud of him. However, she was also angry with and worried about him. Filial Piety was a virtue. It just should not be taken to the extreme that Shuichi had. It was her life to trade for his and not his life for hers.

These past few days had been such a shock for Shiori. Finding out that her son remembered his past life as a kitsune was surprising, but not a shock to her. She believed in reincarnation and knew that there were people out there who supposedly could recall their past lives. It just that she never expected to meet someone who would make such claims and have proof; especially when that someone was a member of her family! In some ways it made sense as Shuichi was always an intelligent and mature child for his age.

The real shock for Shiori had been everything she had found out after she was cured. Shuichi paid the main price in order to have him returned to her, but Ranma had unintentionally extracted a heavy price from her as well. The supernatural was no longer the realm of old tales or fantasy dramas. It was reality for her and she couldn't go back to the proverbial masquerade of normalcy. She had sold her son to a devil in order to save him and now he was something reviled by most of humanity. Just how selfish could she be?

Shiori shook her head and numbly sat down on the couch without realizing she wasn't walking anymore. She couldn't think like that. Shuichi was alive with a bright future ahead of him. By joining Ranma's peerage her son had become a retainer to the future second most powerful member of one of the Underworld's stronger Clans who also had a close connection to the leaders of the Underworld. One could argue that she had merely insured that Shuichi was following in his ancestors footsteps as a samurai serving his daimyo.

Ranma certainly looked after them like a generous daimyo even if he didn't act like it around her. It had been a shock to find out all of her expensive hospital bills paid, her apartment rent paid, and even fresh food waiting in the fridge for her and Shuichi when they got home. She could at least draw some comfort from all of this bewildering aid as it showed her son had a kind lord. It also wasn't like this choice really limited Shuichi's options for the future. He could pursue his dream job in between fulfilling his duties a bishop. Given the increased lifespan her son now enjoyed he could have several long careers doing whatever he wanted.

A voice unexpectedly called out in a gruff manner, "It's good that here Ms. Minamino. However, can you ring the doorbell next time?" Shiori jumped an inch from shock and turned to look at Genma standing in the doorway wearing his usual bandana with an A-shirt and cargo pants ensemble from his workplace.

The lady blinked her eyes and mentally reset herself. She started to blush and bowed her head. "I'm terribly sorry. I didn't even realize that I, but how did I even open the door?"

Genma shook his head and replied, "Don't worry about it. You're still trying to process everything after learning just how crazy this world really is. Trust me; I know what you're going through."

Shiori turned to look at the front door which was currently closed with the doorknob locked and the deadbolt set. She didn't recall opening the door and she definitely didn't recall locking up the door so securely. Genma quickly saw where Shiori's eyes were going and he sighed. "Like I said, don't worry about coming in like you did. The magical barrier that the boys always put up around our apartments when we move in let you in. You're under the protection of the Sitri Clan now and their general wards always let people under their protection inside for safety. Unless the boys have been lazy there is already a similar ward at your apartment."

"How do you deal with all of this?" Shiori looked at Genma in surprise at just how calm he was about everything. Didn't things like this at least rate a raised eyebrow?

Genma shrugged his shoulders and replied, "I was jumpy and wanted to deny it the first couple of weeks after I found out I was going to be a father after drunkenly knocking up one of the four Satans. But, one day I woke up and truly realized at all of this supernatural stuff had always been happening and will always be happening. It gets to the point where you don't even really think about what someone is doing with magic or you don't even bat in eye when you see a yokai without their disguise. Soon enough the thought of your son or his friends teleporting in won't seem any different than if they walked in the front door."

Shiori nodded her head, "Thank you for saying that Mr. Saotome. It's good to know that things will get easier."

A snort left Genma's mouth and he reached over to get some tea for the two of them. "Things will not get easier Ms. Minamino. They will most likely get harder as you become more aware of the 'Moonlight World' as some people apparently refer to all the supernatural elements in this world. They will just become another thing you're used to in your life."

The tea was set on the table in front of the couch Shiori was sitting at. Genma poured a cup and handed it to Shiori who accepted it with a nod of the head. The tea was a relaxing blend that helped to calm Shiori down. Genma continued to speak after Shiori had a chance to drink some of the tea. "Look, the tales don't lie about how difficult it is to raise a hanyo. There will be aspects of your son's life that you won't be able to be a part of. There will also be parts that your son will try to shield you from for your safety. Raising a teenager is hard enough and having a supernatural teen is an added difficulty."

Genma took a sip of tea and then said, "However, you have the strength to handle this. I know this because if the Sitri Elders didn't see that strength in you they would have already moved to separate you from your kid."

Shiori widened her eyes in shock. "What?"

Genma continued on. "It doesn't happen often, but I've heard of records where the Sitris have deemed a reincarnated devil's mortal parents a threat to the new member of their clan. They will wipe memories, edit records, arrange for incarceration, stage deaths, and even cause deaths if needed to protect a clan member. I've overheard that Yusuke's mother is considered to be in possible need of a memory wipe if she finds out about Yusuke being a devil. No such consideration has been given for you so take comfort in that fact. You've been judged able to handle this situation by people who take this all very seriously."

In a scary way, that information was comforting to Shiori. The thought of being separated from her son terrified her. She also instinctively knew that the Sitri had the power to do that if they wanted to do so. Ranma had showed her that his devil clan took their responsibilities very seriously. They would remove her if she was judged as a threat like Genma said. However, others had seen in her a strength she wasn't sure she possessed. She just needed to find that strength.

Kurama looked out at the Sitri training fields there tires lad out four in a row for a long stretch of the field along with different bars ranging from a half a foot to two feet off the ground after the tires. Then to add to the bizarreness there was a stone couch with a tub of lard and a boom box on said couch. Kurama turned to Ryoga and asked, "Do you know what's going on?"

Ryoga shook his head, "Not really. I heard Ryu mentioning something about teamwork last night, but I wasn't paying attention."

Yusuke was lying on the grass and butted into the conversation. "Where are Ranma and Ryu? They told us all to be here at this time and they aren't here." This wasn't like the duo. They were usually the first ones on the training field and were doing exercises while waiting for everyone.

A Sitri teleportation sigil appeared on the ground a few feet away from the trio. Ranma, Ryu, and Hiei were revealed once the teleportation light vanished a few seconds later. The young devil king turned to the trio and said, "Sorry about the delay everyone. I just had to get a few things settled in for our newest companion Hiei who is the first knight of the peerage."

* * *

Kurama raised an eyebrow in surprise. This wasn't something he was expecting to see happen. He glanced at Hiei trying to figure out why Hiei would join Ranma's peerage. Something like this didn't seem to be in Hiei's personality from what little Kurama knew about the yokai. The only reason Hiei had asked him to join in stealing the artifacts from King Enma was the fact that he couldn't do it himself. So, Kurama wondered, what could Ranma have offered Hiei that would cause the proud demon to agree to become a devil under Ranma's leadership?

Ranma looked at everyone and said, "Okay everyone this is Hiei. Hiei, that's Ryoga and you've meet both Kurama and Yusuke before. I know some of you have been on opposite sides in fights before. However, that doesn't matter now that we're all part of the same peerage. You don't have to like each other, but all of us will have to be able to count on each other. I trust no one has any issues with this?" There was a pause while Ranma checked to see if anyone had any issues with what he had said.

Ryu didn't have any issues as he had helped prep this speech with Ranma. Ryoga was a little annoyed at Hiei because of him taking a hostage, but he was willing to hold his peace on the issue. Yusuke just didn't care; he and Hiei had gotten into a brawl and now they were on the same team. What was complicated about that? Kurama was intrigued about working with Hiei again and was perfectly willing to extend the same acceptance into the peerage that he had been given. Hiei didn't have any real issues with anyone.

Once Ranma was sure everyone was on the same page he continued. "Now, said peerage has expanded very rapidly this past month. This means that we're not used to working as a team and that has to change. We probably won't have to enter battle as a group for a while, but there are no guarantees. I don't want anyone seriously injured or worse because we couldn't work as a team. So part of our training is going to include teamwork exercises starting with that stone couch."

Yusuke raised an eyebrow and cut in at this point. "Yeah about that, what are we supposed to do with the couch? Also, why is there a tub of lard on it?" Everyone else besides Ranma and Ryu were happy that someone had asked that question.

Ranma and Ryu glanced at each other and smirked. Ryu nodded his head at an unspoken question and started to speak. "The couch is enchanted so that our combined strength can barely lift it. We'll need to carry the couch across the training grounds dealing with obstacles like the tires and the trip bars. If we cause the couch to touch the ground or we can't keep it steady making the lard fall off then the couch will teleport itself back to the start of the course."

Ryoga nodded his head and then said, "That makes some sense. But why is it a tub of lard that we have to keep on the couch?"

The veteran peerage members looked at each other again and their smirks grew wider. Their minds wandered back a few years to two ten year olds in a forest doing some basic training. Ranma then answered Ryoga's question. "This exercise just wouldn't be the same if we didn't have to haul a tub of lard or a fat braying ass on a couch. Since we couldn't get one of the donkeys from the nearby farms we're stuck with the lard."

A small chuckle escaped Ryu's lips he then said, "Alright everyone. We're going to go three to a side on the couch. Ryoga and Yusuke will be paired opposite of each other. Kurama, you're going to be my partner. Finally, Ranma and Hiei are going to be in the lead. Now let's get started!" The six teens headed to the couch and got into position.

Ranma gave the count and on three they all lifted the couch. The spells carved into the couch did as advertised and everyone had to give their all in order to lift the couch. They got the couch up, but they had trouble keeping it level. This triggered the boom box to activate and it started to bellow recorded insults from Genma at the group. Ryoga was surprised by the string of insults and he stumbled causing Ryu to trip up. This caused the couch to touch the ground and get transported back to the starting point.

The sextet blinked their eyes and everyone fell to the ground because they were suddenly not dealing with the weight of the couch. Yusuke blinked his eyes and shouted out, "What the heaven man?"

Ranma looked at the couch and shrugged his shoulders. "Looks like we only made it 5 feet. I was expecting us to do better on the first try."

Kurama looked at his king in mild surprise. He then said, "Perhaps we might have gotten farther if we didn't have the unexpected insults hurled at us. I don't think most of us expected that to happen."

With a shrug of his shoulders Ranma replied, "Well, it's not like anyone asked what the boom box was for. The insults let us know when we're slowing down or the tub of lard is starting to move. Now let's get up and try this exercise again."

Team Ranma headed back to the couch and started to lift it again. They got twice as far the second time before the insults started to be hurled. The team tried to adjust how they were carrying the couch to stop the insults, but that only made this worse. Eventually the tub rolled off of the couch smacking Triple R in their shoulders before it and the couch were teleported back to the start.

Yusuke looked at the couch and then glanced at the tires which were several almost twice the distance away. He started to grind his teeth together for a second and cussed out, "Bless it! How the heaven are we supposed to carry that couch just to those blessed tires if that tub of lard is going to take out whoever is on one side of the couch?"

Ryoga rubbed his shoulder and replied, "I don't know. Trying to stop the tub from rolling didn't seem to work. However, I don't see how we're supposed to stop it from starting to roll in the first place."

Kurama looked at the path that sextet had walked with a keen eye. Centuries of experience in tracking and avoiding being tracked from his first incarnation made everything perfectly clear to the bishop. He then stated, "Our strides are a major source of our problems."

Everyone turned to look at Kurama and Ranma motioned for him to continue. "All of us walk with a different stride and at slightly different speeds. This causes the couch to rock since our motions are not in sync. If we all walk with the same pace at the same time we can cut down on this rocking. Also, if we tilt the couch slightly so that the side with the back is an inch or two lower than the other side of the couch then any remaining rocking should move the tub of lard into the back of the couch. That will keep it from rolling off."

Ranma nodded his head quickly followed by the other members of the peerage. The king then said, "Sounds like a plan. I'll keep pace with a count of 1 for left foot and 2 for right foot. We'll keep the distance between our feet at 1 foot. Now, let's complete this course!"

The Sextet headed back to the couch unaware that they had a pair of onlookers. Sona and Sheli were standing on the branches of one of the trees at the start of the estate's forest half a mile away. Both ladies were using spells on their glasses to use them as high powered binoculars. Sheli put a hand to her chin and mused, "It seems that all of Ranma's peerage members are a determined bunch."

Sona calmly replied, "I would expect no less from Ranma. A willingness to work is part of what he looks for in his peerage members." She quickly returned her focus to Ranma and how sweat was starting to form on his muscles.

Sheli nodded her head and canceled the spell on her glasses. She then sighed and said, "I'm just worried about what the clan's vassals will make of Ranma's peerage. Your peerage is still more numerous and well known. However, they are generally individually weaker than the members Ranma has collected. Many of our more troublesome vassals will eagerly ignore the less refined aspects of your nephew's peerage in favor of their strength. We already have enough talk given how many more names are engraved on Ranma's adobe throne compared to your brick throne."

In the grand hall of the Sitri Manson where court was held there were three thrones: the stone throne for the clan head, the brick throne for the clan heir, and the adobe throne for the first heir of the blood. The path to the stone throne was carved with names of all those the clan head had slain. The brick and adobe thrones had the names of all those their possessors had killed carved into them. It was a way for the clan head to remind his vassals that he held his position thanks to him crushing all who opposed him. While at the same time, the brick and adobe thrones served to remind the vassals that strong leadership was waiting on the wings if something should ever happen to the clan head.

"I'm well aware of the tension mother. I am also working on some plans to try and negate those issues."

Sheli shook her head and replied, "That doesn't stop me from worrying about you Sona. I am proud of Ranma and his abilities, but I am worried about what actions our vassals might be driven to take because of those same abilities. You have many talents. It's just that most of those talents are not what many of the vassal clans apparently want in their overlord."

Sona cancelled the spell on her glasses and turned to look at her mother. She easily saw the look of worry on Sheli's face. The younger Sitri gave her mother a soft smile and said, "I know. However, those discontented vassals will have to face reality that I will be their future overlord. You can't have a revolt if the rallying figure is loyal to the crown."


	10. Chapter 10

Genma walked down the streets of Nerima towards the Tendo dojo. It was his day off and he thought that he'd go check up on his old buddy Soun. As Genma strolled down the streets he looked around at the neighborhood. This would be a good place to settle down and set some roots. Next year he would bring everyone down and Ranma's engagement could commence. The question of where all of Ranma peerage would be briefly came to mind, but he didn't give it too much thought. Ranma was responsible for his peerage so he would have to handle those issues. If things became really difficult he'd allow Ranma to use the Sitri resources to set up residences for everyone.

There would have to be the condition that Ranma couldn't set up things too fancy if he had to build or buy a place for his peerage. Genma had seen pictures of the Sitri mansion and it was too much in his opinion. Finer things in life were good, but too much comfort dulled the reflexes of a martial artist. That just wouldn't do for the future Grandmaster of the Anything Goes School.

Soon enough Genma reached the Tendo Dojo and his mood dropped slightly when he didn't hear the sounds of a group of students practicing in the dojo. Soun must still be reluctant to take up teaching again after his wife died. That worried Genma more than he wanted to let on. What about their original plan for the schools? Soun had always favored weapons which made him good at keeping opponents at a distance. He also was good at ground combat and managing multiple opponents.

Soun's school was supposed to be the introductory school for the Anything Goes style. It would be a good style for more casual martial artists building up the basics while providing a range of weapons training for those who wanted to learn it further. Genma's branch of Anything Goes was to be the advance school for those with a real talent for martial arts. It required harsher training given its aerial emphasis and was better at a one on one confrontation. At the same time, the fact that everyone would have had some basics in the Tendo branch would mean that they could handle multiple opponents better than Genma could.

Genma reached the front door of the Tendo house and rang the doorbell. He waited a few seconds and then the door open. Kasumi was standing in the doorway with a pleasant smile on her face. She bowed her head politely and said, "Good day sir. How can I help you?"

A soft smile appeared on Genma's face for a second. Kasumi had indeed grown up to be a beauty like he thought she would the last time he had seen her. Genma bowed his head slightly and said, "Is your father in by any chance? I'm an old martial arts training companion of his and I wanted to stop by to visit him. Could you let him know that Genma Saotome wants to see him?"

Kasumi was surprised to hear this since it wasn't often that old friends of her father came to visit. She smiled and replied, "Could you wait here for a minute Mr. Saotome? I'll let my father know you're here." Kasumi then closed the door and went to find her father.

There was the brief sound of an excited cry in the house a few moments later and then the sounds of someone running in the house. Soun flung the front door open and stared at Genma for a second. He then happily cried out, "Genma Saotome! Old buddy, where have you been? It's so good to see you again." Soun pulled Genma into a hug as he said this.

Genma patted Soun on the back as he returned the hug. He then pulled Soun off of him while still clasping his dear friend's arms. "It's good to see you too Soun. We have much to talk about."

Soun nodded his head and replied, "Yes old friend. Come, let's get inside and catch up on old times." Soun quickly lead Genma through the house to the family room where there was a shogi table. Much of the house was the same as Genma remembered. The two friends sat down and then Soun spoke again. "So how has life been treating you Genma?"

Genma nodded his head and replied, "I can't complain Ranma and Ryu are growing up to be fine young men and exceptional martial artists. Not that I can let them know that; those boys already have very large prides for their age. They're not like us when we were young. We were able to stay humble if we ever got a scrap of praise."

Soun smiled when he heard that about his friend's son and foster son. He thought that it was a strange twist of fate that Genma would be the one with sons to pass his legacy along instead of him. It was a regret of Soun's that he didn't have a son to carry on his art. Kasumi and Nabiki were never enthusiastic about martial arts. He was at least able to teach them enough for self-defense and to stay in shape. As for Akane, Soun had mixed feelings about his youngest daughter on this matter. She had talent and was interested in martial arts. However, she just didn't have the drive and focused determination to make it as a professional martial artist. Soun knew her heart was on acting and the art would help her in that pursuit.

Maybe if he had been able to keep it together when Akane was younger after her mother died he could have instilled the drive needed to make her his heir. However, going to plays had been something Akane and his beloved wife had done to give her breaks from her condition before she died. Those precious times were able to ease his wife in her final months. Taking Akane and the girls to see plays after his wife's passing was something Soun had been able to do to help the girls remember the good times with their mother. Helping the girls deal with losing their mother was worth not having a direct heir in the art.

The Tendo patriarch returned his thoughts to more pleasant things and focused on Genma. Soun asked, "So where is Ranma? And let's not forget about Ryu as well. Given what you've told me in your occasional letters I wouldn't mind adding him to our promise as well."

Now that was a thought that Genma hadn't considered before. Ryu was a good lad and would make an excellent husband for one of Soun's daughters. It was also Genma's responsibility as the boy's guardian to insure that he got a good spouse to help him be a better man. Ranma and Ryu's children in such a situation would be first cousins which meant that Genma's idle dream of the duo making a similar pact for their children like he and Soun did would be legal under Devil and Japanese law. This would also make the boys truly brothers without having to end the Kumon family.

Genma smiled and replied, "That sounds wonderful Soun. Our families will be doubly blessed in the future. As for the boys, they're probably at the apartment looking after their group of friends. I plan on bringing them here next year to fulfill our promise. Sixteen seems like a good age to me since it was good enough for us."

Soun nodded his head. "Quite right old friend, sixteen would be a good age. Now, what can you tell me about this group of friends the boys have found? I don't recall them gathering a group of friends before in your letters."

This was a question that Genma had prepared for since he didn't feel that Soun and his daughters were quite ready to find out about everything just yet. Genma calmly replied, "They're a group of teens mostly a little younger then Ranma that the boys have taken under their wing. Each of the teens had something that was causing them trouble that Ranma stepped in to help with. Shuichi for example was going through a bad time because his mother was seriously ill. Ranma saved him from doing something that would have gotten him killed. Yusuke is another example. Poor boy had his heart in the right place, but he never got a fair hand before in his life. Ranma spotted him getting hurt from saving a tyke from being hit by a car and got him to a hospital. Now, Yusuke is starting to make something of himself."

A tear threatened to erupt from Soun's eye when he heard the news. It sounded like Ranma was growing up to be a model martial artist. A person that was strong of mind and body as well as being a pillar of the community. Soun knew that Ranma would grow up to be like that; how could he not with Genma as his father? It was just that Soun expected it to talk a little longer for Ranma to turn out like this.

The two old friends continued to chat about the good old days for several more hours. They also got several rounds of shogi in to their mutual enjoyment. Talk about their promise to unite the schools did not happen. They both knew when would be the proper time and they didn't want to risk spoiling the wonderful surprise for anyone. Eventually, Genma had to say his goodbyes and headed back to his apartment. However, he promised to call Soun a little more often before he took the boys on one final training trip before bringing them to the dojo.

* * *

Sheli walked down the halls of the Sitri mansion towards Ranma's wing. She soon reached the apartment set aside for Hiei and knocked on the door. A somewhat gruff and monotonous voice answered back, "Who's there."

With a smile Sheli replied, "This is Lady Sheli Sitri. Can I come in?"

Hiei quickly replied, "It's your mansion."

That kind of invitation was about what Sheli expected out of her grandson's newest peerage member so she didn't let it faze her. She opened the door and entered Hiei's apartment. The room was in the standard opulence that anyone associated with the main Sitri family would have. However, there was a nervous energy about. It hung to the walls and made Sheli feel like she was looking at an animal at the zoo stuck in the wrong habitat.

The lady of the clan quickly spotted her grandson's knight sitting on his bed warily looking at her. Sheli gave Hiei a disarming smile and said, "Good morning Hiei. I was wondering if we could talk about how to improve your non-combat related abilities."

A confused look appeared on Hiei's face. "What do you mean my non-combat related abilities?"

Sheli smiled and replied, "I mean exactly what I said. I want to talk to you about how we can improve your skills and abilities that are not needed in a physical fight. As you become a higher ranking devil you will gain additional rights and responsibilities that won't be centered on the battlefield. I want to talk with you about how we can prepare you so that you won't be caught unprepared when that time comes."

There was a wary look on Hiei's face. He said, "This is starting to sound like you want to send me to school. I chose to stay here because I didn't want to join Ranma in school."

Lady Sitri shook her head. "I'm not about to send you to school Hiei. Given what little I know of your background, such an environment would not help you to improve yourself. Let me ask you a question Hiei, do you know how to read the Makai Characters?"

A nervous and slightly incredulous look appeared on Hiei face. He nervously said, "Why would you ask me a question like that?"

Sheli smiled and sat down on the floor in front of Hiei. She then said, "Almost all reincarnated devils have to be taught how to read cuneiform which is what Infernal is written down in. The Evil Piece uploads the spoken Infernal as a natural second language when you're reincarnated. However, it can't upload the written language as well. We have a spell that increases a reincarnated devil's ability to learn cuneiform as used with Infernal in addition to the regular education boosting spells used to help devils truly learn languages. The problem with the spell I'm thinking of is the caster needs to know a written language that the target of the spell already knows."

"I know that there are several dozen main languages used by the yokai of Makai. I also know that the yokai of Makai developed a logogram based writing system like the Chinese did. By last count there were 14,416 well known Makai Characters of which 4250 were needed to be known to be considered fully literate in the Makai languages. Now Hiei, do you know those characters?"

Hiei's shoulders slumped and he lowered his eyes in shame. In an embarrassed and quiet voice he said, "I can't read."

Sheli suspected this given what Ranma had told of Hiei's background. She gave the knight a comforting smile and inquired, "Now my next question is strictly so I know how to go about teaching you Infernal Cuneiform Hiei. Is it that you can't read Makai Characters and you know another writing system or that you do not know how to read any language?"

Something within Hiei that he kept locked tight by his frozen blood that he rarely showed for his father's fire yokai blood broke under the maternal questioning of Sheli. An unshed tear glistened in Hiei's eye. Emotion was bubbling under the surface of the recently reborn devil's voice as he spoke. "I don't know how to read or write at all. I, I know nothing that people associate with an education."

It hurt Sheli to see Hiei like this. Her children and grandson's peerages were like the large family that Sheli wished she had been able to give Saar. She gently wrapped and arm around Hiei and held him. Hiei tensed slightly from the contact, but his nerves calmed down when he felt the motherly concern Sheli's touch conveyed. For several minutes the duo stayed in place with Sheli freely giving the maternal love that Hiei didn't realize he desperately needed.

Eventually, Hiei calmed down and was able to reassert the control over himself that he usually had. Sheli pulled away from the embrace knowing that Hiei wanted to be strong by himself for the time being. The lady waited for Hiei to look at her again before she continued. "Now that we had figured out where to start your tutoring I can plan out how to get you caught up to where most people your age are expected to be at. There are spells to help with memorization and learning, but they can be mentally exhausting. If you can put up with the strain and give me a solid chunk of your day every day for a year I can get you caught up. However, even if we can only use those spells occasionally we can still get you caught up. It will just take a little longer."

The pure matter of fact manner Sheli spoke about him catching up to the other in terms of education shocked Hiei. In surprise he muttered, "I can catch up?"

"Of course you can Hiei!" Sheli shot the knight a look implying that he was foolish for thinking otherwise. "You are alive which means that you can learn. A person can always learn something as long as they put the time and effort into trying to learn. You're a devil so you've got plenty of time and you're a part of Ranma's peerage. My grandson doesn't let people into his peerage that are willing to quit when things get a little tricky."

A few small drops of happiness melted off of Hiei's icy heart. Perhaps being here would offer him more than a safe place for Yukina after he found her. The fact that he had 'died' as part of the reincarnation process fulfilled his oath to Shigure to never tell Yukina that he was her brother until the day he died. Ranma could and probably would tell her for him if asked and the oath never specified forbidding a third party to tell her if someone wanted to complain because he didn't stay dead. Hiei hadn't planned on ever telling Yukina about their relationship because he had felt that he wasn't someone anyone would want to claim as a relative. But, there seemed to be the chance that the Sitris would help him become someone that Yukina wouldn't have to be ashamed to know.

* * *

Keiko looked at the test in Yusuke's hands in shock at the B proudly sitting at the top of the test. It was shocking to her and every other student who could see the test grade. News that Yusuke Urameshi had gotten such a high grade was starting to spread like wildfire throughout the class. Yusuke's ears started to twitch as he heard the news of his scholastic achievement be passed from student to student. Yes he got a B on the test; it wasn't like he was a moron. He just never saw the point in working for good grade in school before.

Part of Yusuke wanted to stand up, verbally attack everyone for talking about him, and walk out the door in a huff. It was a tempting idea. However, doing that would reflect badly on him which in turn would make Ranma look bad. Making Ranma look back was something Yusuke wasn't willing to do. His king had put too much effort and energy helping him to improve himself to cause embarrassment.

Ranma had that promise to his mother to worry about, but that didn't mean he had to help Yusuke like he had helped the rook. Yusuke's king had cracked open the textbooks himself and helped to tutor the boy in addition to the tutors that had been brought in by Ranma's aunt. One time, Ranma had actually pulled out his cell phone and called Sona to ask her how he should explain something to Yusuke. What made everything even more profound to Yusuke was that Ranma also explained why getting an education was useful for him.

Yusuke used all of the little decorum drilled into his head to calmly put his test away in his class folder and then put the folder in his backpack. As soon as the bell rang he got up and headed for the door. Keiko quickly got up and followed her friend out the door. No one else in the class noticed Yusuke's exit as they were still talking in disbelief over Yusuke's grade. Keiko glanced around the hallways and spotted Yusuke after a second of searching. She saw him turning the corner to the stairwell and hurried after him.

Keiko was surprised when she got to the stairwell that she could see Yusuke heading to the upper level of the school instead of the lower level and the exit. She didn't call out to him because she didn't want to cause a scene. It was obvious to Keiko that being the center of attention in school was the last thing Yusuke wanted at the moment. Keiko followed Yusuke up the stairs and was surprised when she saw him heading for the roof access. Part of her wondered why on earth Yusuke would head up there after school was over.

Yusuke reached the door to the roof, opened it, and walked out before Keiko could reach the floor. The door closed behind Yusuke, but it didn't close all the way. Keiko walked to the door and was about to open it when she heard Yusuke call out, "Okay Ranma. The cost is clear so you can teleport in now."

This statement shocked Keiko. What on Earth was Yusuke talking about? A light started to shine from the door drawing her attention. Keiko's hands quickly covered her mouth in shock as she watched a Sitri sigil appear on the school roof through the crack in the door. There was a flash of light and then Ranma was standing on roof next to Yusuke.

Ranma looked at his rook and nodded his head. "Good job on casting the communication spell Yusuke. There are still some things you need to work on, but over all you've got the spell down. Now you just need to consistently cast that spell at that level and then we can see about getting you a devilberry of your own."

Yusuke smirked and replied, "Just get ready to buy one for me Ranma. Here's my test result for you to look at." Yusuke pulled out the folder with the test and handed it to Ranma.

The young king quickly reviewed it and nodded his head. Ranma lowered the folder and replied, "86 percent correct. Much better than the 12 percent you did on your last test. You should be proud of your accomplishment Yusuke; I know I am and that Sona's peerage will also be proud of your achievement. I hope you can do better on your next test because I know you have that potential in you. Now let me tell you."

Ranma cut himself off in midsentence and glanced at the door to the school interior. He then turned to look at Yusuke with a look that said you are an idiot on his face. "Yusuke, did you remember to use the standard anti-surveillance spells before calling me?"

Yusuke scratched the back of his head and replied, "I think so. Why?"

In a dead pan manner Ranma answer, "Because we're being watched!" He then dashed to the door so fast he left an afterimage and opened it to reveal a shocked Keiko staring at him. Ranma looked at Keiko for a second considering something and then sighed. "We might as well help the cat get out of the bag before it catches a claw on the opening. Okay Keiko, come out here and let's talk."

Ranma started to walk back to Yusuke while discreetly casting security spells. There was no way he was going to let Yusuke mistake last any longer than it had to or risk getting even worse. Keiko took a step onto the roof and looked at Yusuke in concern and confusion. She glanced at Ranma and then returned her gaze to Yusuke trying to make sense of what she had seen. With a quiet and nervous voice she spoke just barely above a whisper. "What is going on here?"

The two devils shared a look between each other. Yusuke soon glanced away with a nervous look on his face causing Ranma to frown. Ranma turned to look at Keiko and said, "Mystical things that you might not want to know about. You've got two options at this point Keiko. Either I help you think whatever you may have seen is a weird day dream or you tumble down the proverbial rabbit hole. Here is a word of warning before you make your choice. Once you go down the rabbit hole it is very, very hard to get out."

Keiko paused for a second as what she had heard was processed. Part of Keiko wanted to pretend this all was a dream. People don't suddenly appear on roofs in flashes of light in real life. She was a good girl who was a dutiful daughter and a diligent student. It was obvious to her that whatever Ranma and Yusuke were hiding was probably something she should stay away from to stay as she was. The fact that Ranma was warning her away made the sensible decision to be wanting this all to be a dream.

However, Keiko's eyes turned to look at Yusuke and her heart felt a tug. She knew that Yusuke was in the thick of whatever these 'mystical things' were. Pretending that the strange things she saw was a dream would create a barrier between the two of them. The rift between the two of them when Yusuke had been in his bad boy phase had been difficult enough on Keiko. This past month and a half had been good for Keiko as the distance between her and Yusuke had closed. It had been terrifying when she found out that Yusuke had been hit by the car, but it seemed to have knocked some sense into him.

Then Keiko remembered that Ranma had been the one to come get Yusuke's homework when he was in the car accident. He had been coming to the school some afternoons after Yusuke got back to take him home. Keiko liked what she had seen in Yusuke since Ranma entered Yusuke's life. That made up her mind for her. Keiko turned back to Ranma and firmly asked, "What is going on here?"

* * *

Sona walked along the forest part of the Sitri estate next to the manner looking for Ranma. She had heard from Tsubaki about Yusuke's friend being brought in to the mystical side of life when Yusuke was giving a report about his recent school test. Sona knew that Ranma didn't want to bring the girl into things yet until he was sure Yusuke could help protect her. At the same time, Sona also knew that Ranma probably wasn't going to get a better opportunity to reveal the truth to her in a more promising light. That didn't change the fact that this whole incident had to have increased the stress Ranma was under.

Eventually, Sona wandered near the waterfall and spotted her nephew. She started to blush since Ranma was having a misogi and only wearing the traditional headband and loin cloth. He had his wings out and spread to their fullest extent which was almost longer than the waterfall. It seemed rather paradoxical to Sona for a devil to be preforming a cleansing ritual for purity. Rias might be able to explain the details since she was the Japanophile. All that Sona knew was that being a devil did not automatically exclude someone from also being a Shintoist. She wasn't going to argue with the results even if she was confused about the how.

For the next few minutes Sona stood within view of Ranma trying to keep the blood from rushing to her face. Eventually, Ranma opened his eyes and then got up out of the waterfall. He walked out of sight to where he had stashed his clothes inadvertently allowing Sona to regain control of her composure. Ranma walked into view again near Sona after he got dressed. Ranma looked at his aunt in surprise and asked, "Why are you here Sona?"

Sona's eyes darted to the side for a second before they returned to look at Ranma's piercing purple eyes. She took then replied, "I came to check in on you Ranma. You've been under a lot of stress you're not used to dealing with lately. It's had me worried."

There was a slight tremble in Sona's voice as she said that last part. Hiding her weaknesses had been drilled into her from the cradle. Clan Heads could not show any weakness. Rivals would use any advantage they could get no matter how small. Only around their most trusted confidants could someone in Sona's position reveal vulnerability.

Ranma's cheeks lit up when he heard Sona confess her concern. He turned his head to the side and started to scratch the back of his head. How was he supposed to respond to this? Knowing that he had to say something the young half devil blurted out, "Sorry for worrying you Sona!"

A small gasp of surprise escaped Sona's lips as she watched Ranma slump down on the ground with a thud. He put his arms in his lap and let out a sigh of frustration. Ranma looked down at his lap in sadness. "I don't know how you put up with having such a large peerage. I feel like I'm letting things slip by for my peerage and not doing everything I should for them."

"Look at Hiei. It never even occurred to me that he might not be able to read until Grandmother pointed it out to me. Then there is this situation with Yusuke not securing the roof properly. We really lucked out that only Keiko spotted us and that she took the news about devils better than expected. What about Kurama? Have I messed up anything regarding his life as Shuichi that will come back to bite him?"

Sona sat down next to Ranma and wrapped her arms around him. She then put her head on his shoulder and whispered. "It will be alright Ranma. You've made mistakes and that's to be expected. The important thing now is that you recognize your mistakes and take steps to correct them. Remember that failing is only truly a failure if you don't learn from it."

A small smile cracked from Ranma's lips for a second and he let out an amused snort. "I've lost count of how many times Grandfather has given me that bit of advice. Doesn't make it any less true, but it's just that managing a large peerage is really hard. And before you state it, I know that 5 peerage members isn't a large peerage by most definitions. It is for me though."

"Then why did you expand your peerage so relatively fast if you're having trouble handling it Ranma?"

Ranma leaned in a little closer to Sona as he spoke without realizing it. "I only planed on adding Ryoga this year. However, Yusuke and Kurama were now or never situations. As for Hiei, his skillset was very useful and there are strong reasons for him staying loyal. I won't share those reasons without his permission as they are rather personal. I couldn't risk losing such potentially valuable companions, but at the same time I feel like in up to my chin looking out for them."

Sona made her hug a little firmer and replied, "You'll make it through this Ranma. Rising to meet and exceed any challenge you want to beat is a fundamental part of who you are. Also, I'll be here to help you. I went through something similar when my peerage was growing. If I can make it then I know you can make it as well."

Unknown to Sona and Ranma, Serafall was watching the duo under the Umisenken. It warmed her heart to see Ranma and Sona so close. Part of Serafall wanted to rush over and hug the duo. However, she knew that would do more harm than good. It also would end her Umisenken cloak making her presence obvious to anyone in miles. That would be a hassle she did not want to deal with.

It was okay for Serafall to visit the Sitri estate from time to time as long as she gave official notice of her visit. Having a 'clandestine' meeting with a vassal or a group of vassals never looked good for anyone. So Serafall had to sneak in and observe her son and sister when she could without anyone noticing. It hurt at times to be so close and yet so far from them. However, it was better than not seeing them.

Watching the scene before her was difficult for Serafall to see and keep her emotions under wrap to keep up the Umisenken. She was certain that Ranma and Sona would make a good pairing. They'd probably have to keep their relationship a secret until it was safe to bring the fertility issue into general knowledge. It would be so much fun to watch and discreetly help the duo. Perhaps there was an old law she could find? The original satans had written some special privileges into law for themselves and their children. Those laws fell out of favor and use, but they hadn't been stricken from the law books.


	11. Chapter 11

Ranma was surprised as he appeared in a summoning circle. This was not a summoning circle from a flyer that got passed around. The connection the summoning circle had was too rough and unfocused for those. Perhaps the best way that Ranma could describe the differences this summoning circle had would be to use a comparison. Typical summoning circles were like calling a company phone line and getting routed seamlessly to the correct department option. This summoning circle was like someone setting up a fog horn to call out Sitri.

A quick glance at the ground made the reason for this obvious to Ranma. He was standing in a rather crudely drawn chalk summoning circle. It looked like something he had seen pictures of in history class when devils required potential clients to draw their own summoning circle. Part of Ranma was even surprised that the circle worked given the poor craftsmanship. He probably wouldn't have noticed the summoning's call if he was in the neighboring town.

His potential client's outburst quick grabbed Ranma's attention. "Hey! I thought that Sitri was supposed to have a leopard's face and griffin wings."

Before Ranma could focus his eyes on his client another voice spoke out, "Are you sure that book was accurate? Did we really summon a devil?"

Ranma quickly spotted the two speakers and saw that he was looking at a pair of rather overweight high schoolers. He extended his wings and tail before speaking, "Yes you summoned a devil."

The first speaker was missing a tooth and he spoke up. "Are you the demon Prince Sitri?"

Ranma stepped out of the summoning circle much to the shock of his potential clients. He glanced at the summoning circle again and nodded his head. "Let me guess, you two used a translation of Lesser Key of Solomon to create this summoning circle. You're lucky this thing didn't blow up in your faces with all of the errors you made in drawing. In answer to your earlier question I am a devil of the Sitri clan. However, the current Prince Sitri is my grandfather."

"Now what wish did you two summon me to grant tonight? Please keep in mind that payment must be delivered before any services are rendered and we all must agree to the terms of the deal. Also, please note that your souls are off the table. Buying human souls has been outlawed since the 1700s."

The two teenagers who had summoned Ranma quickly turned to each other and started arguing. It sounded like they weren't sure if they get their wish because this wasn't what the book stated. Ranma stayed out of the argument at first. He was only here to try and grant their request; getting into an argument with the client was never good for business.

However, the argument continued on and on with no signs of either boy standing down. This was starting to annoy Ranma since he had hoped to get two more additional clients in tonight. The twenty minute mark was when Ranma decided that enough was enough. He brought his fingers to his lips and let out a sharp whistle. Both potential clients grabbed their ears in pain from the whistle and turned to look at Ranma blinking their eyes in shock. They had forgotten that there was a third person in the room with them.

Ranma quickly started talking to try and get the duo to forget he had interrupted them and get on with the wish. "It is obvious that the two of you are concerned about whether or not I can achieve your wish for you. Why don't you tell me what your wish is? It's in my interest to get you your wish and in a way that you can afford."

The other client who had spoken second and who had beady eyes spoke up. "We want the power to see the cheerleaders naked. The book we found said that Sitri could make women take off their clothes on command. Can you do that for us?"

A twitch appeared on Ranma's forehead as he fought the urge to scream. The Sitri's water magic allowed them to craft spells that would manipulate the water in a person's body. These spells could effectively turn a human into a living puppet under the devil's command for a short period of time. Ranma's great-grandfather had used those spells on a couple of really annoying ladies he had unfortunately met while fulfilling some contracts to force them to learn some humility. Said lesson involved them stripping naked and dancing in the streets for everyone to see.

For Satan's sake, Prince Bitru Sitri had only done that three blessed times over the course of two centuries. The incidents weren't even in the same country. Why was that the only example of the Sitri's power that regular humans remembered? It was rather embarrassing for Ranma and especially so for Sona.

Luckily for Ranma, he had an out in this situation. He turned to the duo and said, "The spell capable of doing that is restricted to the Clan Head and the Heir of the clan. I'm high in the Sitri Clan, but not that high. Transferring your request wouldn't do you any good as the Clan Head is very busy and charges very large sums of money for his services. I believe that 616 million yen is the typical fee for most of his contracts." Most of Grandpa's contracts were with doctors creating perfect replacement organs for rich patients. These two dweebs didn't need to know that fact.

The duo looked up at Ranma in shock and both stuttered out disbelief. "616 million yen, you mean that we'd have to have millions of yen to get our dreams? We don't even have 3,000 yen all together!"

That twitch on Ranma's forehead got even worse when he heard that news. These dodos didn't even have 3,000 yen? His starting rates were at 5,000 yen or equivalent value! A typical client for him tended to come in around 40,000 yen. Whispers of Ranma's devil energy started to leak out as he growled. "Look you two; you're wasting my time and yours. You don't have enough to afford even the most basic devil services. There ant no such thing as a free lunch and that's especially true among the supernatural. Even the grand jackass in the sky expects some obedience in return for his boons."

With that said, Ranma silently cast a spell to wash away the summoning circle. He then looked around and spotted the Lesser Key of Solomon that the duo had used to summon him. It would be best to get that away from the fools before they summoned a devil without his restraint. The duo was likely to end up as some hothead's black mark for the year. Killing a deadbeat who couldn't pay for your services was frowned upon and actively discouraged. However, it wasn't illegal yet. Mom was trying in order to clean up the devils reputation, but several powerful lords in the Conclave were against it. They were probably worried about a child or an infernal child ending up on the wrong side of the law.

Ranma grabbed the book and said, "I'll be taking this as a consulting fee for the past half hour you've used up. Don't try contacting any devils again after this. We'll reach out to you if you've got enough funds to use our services." As soon as Ranma said that he summoned the Sitri sigil and teleported away.

* * *

Genkai's temple was in an isolated area on the outskirts of the city. The land around the temple had a strong spiritual presence naturally aligned with more primordial spirits. It was not a place that most humans would be comfortable standing in. Even the most spiritually dense person would get a hair on the back of the neck feel about the place. Only those who were comfortable with the wild could truly stay here. Ranma actually felt more comfortable here then he did at his apartment in the city.

The young devil politely walked up the steps of the temple and reached the front door. He then rang the doorbell and waited for a response. A few seconds later he heard an older woman's voice holler out, "Just wait a minute." About a minute later the front door opened to reveal Genkai standing with an annoyed look on her face. The old lady looked up at Ranma and said, "What do you want? I'm not doing fortune readings, spirit cleansings, or taking on any more pupils. I've got enough trouble with the dimwit I'm teaching right now."

There was the barest hint of affection in Genkai's voice when she referred to the dimwit. It was that affection that made Ranma smile instead of be defensive about Yusuke. He quickly replied, "My visit has to do with that dimwit as you call him. I am Ranma Sitri of Clan Sitri and I happen to be the king of the peerage Yusuke Urameshi is a part of. In two weeks, Clan Sitri is having a quarterly meeting and Yusuke's attendance is expected as a member of my peerage. I was hoping that you and I could work things out so that Yusuke can attend as he's expected to do and not mess up your training routine."

A frown crossed Genkai's face when she heard that news. Genkai wanted Yusuke's training to be completed as soon as possible. She wasn't getting any younger and she didn't want to risk her successor not being ready because she went easy on him. At the same time, one day wouldn't hurt too much and the hanyou was being respectful of her. With a sigh she replied, "We might be able to work something out. Get in here so we can discuss this issue like civilized beings."

Ranma followed Genkai into the temple and was lead to the spartan living room. Genkai motioned for Ranma to sit down on one of the mats and he did so. Genkai sat down on a matt opposite Ranma and asked, "So how long is this event going to take Ranma?"

The young devil quickly answered Genkai. "The gathering will last most of the day. The other members of my peerage and I will be using the cover story that we've caught a cold to explain why we won't be in school that day."

It was a standard story that both Ranma and Sona had used to attend these mandatory meetings during a school day in the past. Why bother with the hassle of hypnotizing so many school officials when there is a perfectly reasonable reason that can be used with a single phone call? All Ranma and his peerage would have to do was cast a spell to make it sound like they were coming down with something the day before and another to sound like they were getting over something the day after they called in sick.

Genkai thought about it and said, "That should be doable. I will want some extra time on all the other training days to make up for the dimwit's absence."

Ranma nodded his head, "I have no problems with that. However, I can't authorize more than half an hour each day. If Yusuke spent more time then that training he might not have enough time to study his schoolwork." Ranma knew that his mutated rook needed time to just relax or he'd risk burning out from all his duties. Yusuke wasn't like Ranma or Ryu getting joy out of training. Pushing Yusuke the edge of his abilities was one thing that Ranma fully supported. He refused to push Yusuke over that proverbial edge.

Genkai nodded her head and said, "That is agreeable. We wouldn't want the dimwit to get dumber now would we?" A small smirk briefly appeared on Genkai's face as she finished speaking.

There was a question that had been bugging Ranma since he found out about Genkai two weeks ago when Koenma had Yusuke compete to become her apprentice. He hadn't thought about bringing it up sooner because he wasn't entirely sure how to get Genkai alone to ask. Ranma had also been too busy enjoying the fact that Yusuke was being paid by Koenma to train to look for a good time to ask. Now was such an opportunity and he seized it. "Genkai, there is a question that's been bothering me for some time. Would you be willing to listen to it and perhaps answer it?"

The old mystic shot Ranma a questioning glare. She then firmly said, "I'll listen to your question. However, I make no promises about whether or not I'll answer it."

Ranma nodded his head slightly and said, "I understand. Botan told me that you started to hunt for an apprentice because you didn't want to risk losing your teachings to old age. However, a person in your situation has access to ways to extend your lifespan considerably. Several of those methods are not questionable by most people's morals. My question is why did you seek a successor instead of at least also trying to extend your own life?"

Genkai blinked her eyes in surprise at Ranma's question. She then closed her eyes and thought about things to herself for a moment. Then she opened her eyes and smiled. "For someone like you, a young ayakashi with a very long life ahead of you, growing old and dying must seem so final. However, when a human gets to my age one can understand that everything in life has its time. Death is not something to be feared. It is a transition to be accepted."

"I only have a few years left if an enemy doesn't kill me. If I'm lucky those few years will be a decade although I doubt it. When I pass away I know I'll transition to Reikai where my soul will stay for a time. After that I don't have much knowledge to plan what will happen to me. Probably enter the wheel of reincarnation, but I'm not putting money on that."

"While that is happening to me, my art must stay here in the mortal realm. It's needed for the time being and the balance will be upset if I don't have an heir to take care of all of this for me. The fact that Yusuke is an ayakashi doesn't matter in that equation. He lives partly in this realm which is all that matters."

Ranma then blurted out, "What if you had a different transition that you could take?" A sheepish look appeared on his face as he looked down at his knees.

Genkai briefly raised an eyebrow and said, "Is that supposed to be an invitation to join your peerage as a devil?"

The sheepish look got even worse for Ranma as he replied to Genkai. "Not at the moment. I'm still getting a handle on managing my current peerage. However, I was planning on seeing if you were interested in joining in the future since the resurrection process would revive you to your prime physical condition."

A frown appeared on Genkai's face and she shook her head. "No thank you Ranma. I was offered the chance to become something other than a human once and I refused the offer then. It is one decision that I have not and will never regret."

Ranma nodded his head in understanding. He was disappointed that Genkai was not even open to considering the possibility. A person with her skill and experience in fighting would be invaluable. Still, he had to respect her wishes since he knew about them. Ranma stood up and said, "I swear on my honor as a Margrave in Clan Sitri and Heir of the Blood that I will not resurrect you with any Evil Piece and will do my best to prevent anyone else from doing unless you ever change your position on being transformed."

* * *

The main hall of the Sitri Manor had a very unsettling feel for the new members of Ranma's and Sona's peerages. It was set up almost like a gothic cathedral with its granite walls, large stained glass windows, some frescos, and multitude of stonework. However, even a brief look would reveal this room to be a twisted mockery of a cathedral. The stained glass windows showed notable events from the Clan's past such as the elevation of the first Lord Sitri. The frescos depicted rewards that the Sitris had received from the Satans. However, the most striking images were the reliefs and statues showing those that previous Prince Sitris had killed for opposing them. All of this was illuminated by fires from torches.

Down the hall were thirty rows of wooden benches on either side of a walkway. Each bench had a small chair built into the center of the bench with a Legione's clan symbol carved into the center of the "chair". On either side of the chair were carved five symbols of the cohorts into the bench. Every Legiones and Cohort clan head had his assigned seat in this hall. These benches were directed to face two massive bat winged manticore statues that were genuflecting. The paws of the two statues came together and formed the base of the stone throne that the prince would sit at. To the prince's left in the place of honor was the brick throne for the heir. Farther away and to the prince's right was the adobe throne for the heir of the blood.

The clan heads entered the hall and passed quiet greetings to each other. There wasn't much time for greetings as they all quickly got to their assigned seats. All of this was done under the gaze of Prince Saar, Princess Sheli, Lady Sona, and Lord Ranma's peerages with Princess Sheli's queen directing everything. The lone queen walked to the base of the steps leading up the thrones and began the proceedings by calling out, "All rise for Prince Sitri!"

As one, the clan heads stood up and turned to look at the back of the hall where Saar, his family, and their seconds were arrayed. Ryu was in the lead holding the pentagram aloft on its staff. Tsubaki was behind Ryu holding the record book. Behind her were Ranma carrying the sword of state in his arms while Sona held the orb and pentagram. Then behind them was Princess Sheli holding the princely crown with Saar's queen who held the Clan Sitri Seal. Finally, there was Prince Saar in the place of honor. Everyone in the group was dressed to their absolute best.

An unheard signal caused a haunting martial song to fill the hall and then the procession started down the hall. Saar made sure to stomp on six names in particular that were engraved in the walkway. These six were the fiercest foes he had to face in battle. When the seven reach the steps they split into two groups while Saar waited at the base of the stairs. Ranma, Ryu, and Sheli went to the right of the stone throne while Sona, Tsubaki, and Saar's queen went to the left. Saar then walked up the steps and sat on his throne.

Ryu waited a moment after Saar had sat down to place the pentagram in its holder behind Saar's throne. The pentagram provided additional illumination of Saar and Ryu quietly made his way to the left side of the adobe throne. Tsubaki then approached the throne and set the record book on a stand built into the stone throne. She bowed her head to Saar and took her place at the left side of the brick throne. Sheli then placed the crown on her husband's head. She stepped back and then proceeded to sit down at the right foot of the stone throne. Saar's queen then handed him the clan seal and took his place at the prince's left side.

Ranma stood in front of his grandfather and bowed while holding out the sword. He then ritually chanted out, "Your sword of war Prince Sitri. May it always drip with the blood of the clan's enemies." Saar took the sword from Ranma who then bowed again before taking his seat on the adobe throne.

Sona waited for Ranma to be seated before she approached the stone throne and bowed. She held out the orb and pentagram and intoned. "The sign of your mastery over the clan may your dominion last for eons." Saar took the orb and pentagram from his daughter who also bowed again before taking her seat on the brick throne.

Saar waited the required moment and then called out, "It is good to see you all here on this day my faithful vassals. I shall now receive the renewal of your vows of homage owed to Clan Sitri." At this point, all of the clan heads fell to their knees. The heads of the legiones clans recited their oaths as one. Then the heads of the cohort clans recited their shorter oath swearing to follow their liege's loyalty to the Sitri.

Prince Sitri nodded his head formally accepting the renewals and motioned for his vassals to sit down. He then proclaimed, "The prince's court is now in full session. It is currently the time of resolution. Let all who are in need of the Prince's Justice plead their cases." Saar then sat down and readied himself to hear the legal issues of his vassals.

The devil justice system was rather simple. Cases were heard and decided on by the lowest common leader of the involved party. That meant that Saar's court cases involved two or more Legiones clan members or members of cohort clans sworn to different legiones clans. Devil courts operated under the assumption that all parties were guilty of some misdoing. Both sides had to prove that they had followed the letter of the law in whatever case was being decided and it was the other person who had messed up. Appeals were practically non-existent since only the judging devil's peers or liege if present could contest a decision. Serafall hadn't popped her head in today and there were no visiting Palatini or Comitatenses clan heads so all judgments were final.

For the next three hours Saar had to decide legal issues that his vassals and the vassals of his vassals brought before him. Ranma watched the proceedings attentively and masked his desire to be anywhere else. His role in this portion of the proceedings, actually it was his role for the entire court session, was to be a living prop. Ranma served as a reminder that the Sitri bloodline was strong and that the chain of succession was secured. He also had to observe to learn what to do if he ever had to take Saar's place, but that was extremely unlikely.

Sona also was mainly there to serve as a living prop. She really didn't get anything out of watching the court cases since she had already studied all the devil law books and several books on legal precedent. Every once in a while her father asked her for her thoughts on an issue. She quickly noted that her father called on her after too many eyes started to briefly glance to Ranma whenever someone mentioned the word heir or leader.

The court eventually moved on from the legal cases to the petition phase. This was when the vassals brought their requests to Saar for consideration. Requests ranged from trade licenses to trade with devil clans outside Saar's vassals, to law requests for Saar to bring before the Conclave, or to edicts for his consideration among his vassals. This was also the time when emissaries from other Palatini or Comitatenses clans could come forward about requested business deals.

Everyone on the thrones was happy that there were only a couple of short petitions to be handled this session. Keeping one's emotions hidden while carefully weighing every facet of a decision for hours on end is exhausting. Ranma was going to be so happy when he eventually got a new aunt/uncle or a cousin to take his seat and boot him out of these court sessions. Sona had to remind herself that putting up with these quarterly productions was an acceptable price to pay for being a clan head. Saar was just quietly counting down the sessions until he could retire and stick Sona with this headache. He just needed Sona or Ranma to have a kid and then he could leave as the succession would still be secure.

Finally, the last petition of the day was heard and it was time end court. The members of the opening procession collected the items they had given Saar in reverse order that they had been presented. Ryu then lead the procession out of the hall holding the pentagram staff. The doors to the main hall were closed Hiei and Yusuke after Saar had passed through them. Everyone in the procession bolted as soon as the door was closed like Heaven had put a hit on them.

* * *

Tsubaki walked into the bathing room attached to Sona's apartment and saw her king sitting her personal bath which was half the size of an Olympic swimming pool. The queen quietly shed her clothes, grabbed some bathing supplies, and slipped into the bath behind Sona. She squirted some shampoo on Sona's head and started to massage the young king's scalp. Tension started to visibly drop from Sona's shoulders as Tsukaki figuratively worked her magic.

"It's getting worse Tsubaki." Sona muttered as she looked at the bath water. Her pain and fear was evident in her voice as she spoke. "More vassals are looking to Ranma to be the heir instead of me. The head of the Vash-Lengathu was giving Ranma second looks and he is a major blood purist. If he falls into Ranma's camp then it opens the floodgates for the others." The blood purists had been a major, if expected, source of support for Sona among the vassals. The current head of the Vash-Lengathu Legiones clan was a major mover in this informal power block.

While they were known as the blood purists, perhaps a better description of that informal party would be calling them traditionalists. They wanted to preserve as many devil traditions as practical and preferred to consider all their options very thoroughly before making a change. A personal rival of one of the clan heads forming the clique slapped the blood purist title on the group and it stuck. They did prefer to keep the bloodlines as pure as possible, but they were willing to accept reincarnated devils that assimilated into devil culture. If Genma had been a reincarnated devil when Ranma had been conceived they wouldn't have nearly the reservations about Ranma that they did.

Tsubaki then inquired, "But I thought you had everything under control. Didn't you tell your mother that you can't have a revolt if the rallying figure is loyal to the crown?"

Sona let out a un-lady like snort and replied, "You also can't be a king if there is no one to listen to you." There was short pause as Sona collected herself and then explained things to her queen. "You have to remember that even though Clan Sitri is stronger on its own then any 4 Legiones clan together, it can't overpower all of the Legiones clans. The Legiones clans have a similar situation with their own vassals just like the Satan Clans are in a similar situation with the Palatini and Comitatenses clans. A vital part of being a clan head is managing the dynamics among the clan's vassals."

There was a pause as Sona breathed in the lavender scent of her bathroom candles to relax. She then turned to face Tsubaki who got a washcloth to clean her king. Sona continued to explain as Tsubaki lathered up the washcloth. "Thanks to Ranma's known desire to not be the clan head I don't have to worry about any sort of palace coup. What I do have to worry about is the Legiones clans deciding that being under the aegis of the Sitri is not in their best interests. The Sitri Prince provides economic benefits and rewards for loyalty along with the threat of destruction for disloyalty. It's the two biggest tools my father uses for keeping the vassals in line."

Tsubaki gently started to wash Sona as the young king talked. "Too many clan heads think of power in terms of personal power or the power of one's peerage. Wider military strength and considerations are ignored along with other bad memories of the Great War and the Civil War. I'm losing the respect of more clan heads as a fighter. They don't see the future clan head of a clan whose military strength helped the Anti-Satan faction win the war. They see a mediocre devil who will need her nephew's help to keep them in line."

Sona's body started to shake as tears started to form in her eyes. "I, I don't know what to do Tsubaki. If I have to come down hard on my vassal clan heads to make them obey I don't think I'll be able to lessen the severity of my rule later on. But, if I try to rule with my strengths I'm probably going to have to deal with defiance. If that's not handled quickly then I'll have rival clans trying to stir up trouble to weaken Clan Sitri."

The queen put the washcloth the side and hugged her soapy friend. She let Sona cry into her chest and wished there was something she could do to help Sona. The problem as Tsubaki saw it was that Sona and Ranma were born too close together. If Ranma had been born a few years earlier then he would have been the heir and his phenomenal progress would be taken in stride. If Ranma had been born a few years later like Millicas then there wouldn't have been as big of a problem. Sona would have had a chance to solidify her position in everyone's mind and Ranma's growth could have been partially attributed to Sona's mentoring abilities.

Ranma being barely a year younger then Sona made it too easy to compare the duo. Ever since it was decided that he was a Sitri instead of a Leviathan there had been those wondering if he should have been the heir per clan tradition. It had been a very small group at first among the servants as no one was eager for the Sitri to become a Comitatenses clan. But as Ranma grew up those voices started becoming more numerous and vocal. Tsubaki knew that Ranma was more than good enough when it came to the more peaceful side of being clan head. Sona's help in tutoring Ranma would permit no less even if it wasn't his strong suit. Sona was better than Ranma in most tasks related to being a clan head except for one. Sadly, that one task was what so many vassal clan heads focused on.

Trying to cheer Sona up Tsubaki asked, "Would it really be that bad to pass the burden of being clan heir on to Ranma? Your paperwork would shrink to at least a third of what it is now, you wouldn't have to worry about people examining every little thing you did, and you could concentrate on the school you want to build. People also couldn't complain if you decided to show Ranma a good time. After all, if the clan became a Comitatenses clan you wouldn't have to worry about whether or not your children were pureblooded."

A full body blush appeared over Sona as she thought about the images Tsubaki's words conjured up in her mind. She took several deep breaths of the relaxing aroma filled air to calm herself down. Sona looked Tsubaki in the eye and said, "It may sound nice, but I cannot accept such a thing. My pride won't let me stand down. To do so would mean that I failed to live up to the responsibilities of my current position. Besides, Ranma would hate being the clan heir and I refuse to force him to do something he hates."

Sona's eyes hardened in resolve as she turned around to let Tsubaki clean her back. She then said in a completely factual tone. "Those who want Ranma as the future heir will have to console themselves with the fact that my heirs will have Ranma's blood flowing through their veins."


	12. Chapter 12

Triple R was walking back to the Saotome apartment when all three boys felt something off. All of them turned their heads as one towards the source of that wrongness. Ryoga broke the uneasy silence of the trio. "Guys, what is going on?"

Ranma's face hardened as he replied, "I don't know. However, it can't be good. This isn't the feel of a naturally dark being. There is deliberate maliciousness behind whatever it is we're sensing." He paused to give Ryu a look and Ryu nodded. Ranma waited a few seconds for Ryu to set up the three security spells. As soon as the spells were in place Ranma casted a powerful detection spell to find out what was going on. To onlookers the spell would have looked like a torrent of dark water erupting from Ranma and harmlessly passing over everything in its path.

Within seconds the spell found the source of the wrongness and blood started to drain from Ranma's face. He then swore out, "Bless it all to the highest heavens!" Ranma then immediately pulled out his Devilberry and hit the auto dialer.

The cellphone could not connect quickly enough for Ranma. He started issuing orders as soon as he heard someone pick up the phone. "9th Plague Protocol in the city I'm in immediately! Coordinate with the Shinto Faction. We have a massive outbreak of something taking control of the humans in this city and it's infecting the uncontrolled rapidly. Transmission vector is some sort of insects that are coming through small teleports."

A nervous voice replied to Ranma over the Devilberry, "Under whose authority?"

Ryoga watched as Ranma almost growled out, "A 9th Plague Protocol needs no authority you incompetent! Start getting resources mobilized to keep the masquerade from being unmasked. Your system should have already recorded this, but Lord Ranma Sitri of Clan Sitri is calling this in."

The voice on the other end of the phone started to get defensive. "Look kid, we don't just jump because you told us to jump. Mobilizing for a 9th Plague Protocol is very expensive. Besides, how do we know that whatever incident occurred merits such response from-" The voice was cut off. Ranma's ears picked up the sound of something being thrown and the sound of screams that sounded like the speaker fading.

A new voice calmly spoke over the phone. "Your warning has been received Lord Ranma. 9th Plague Protocol has been activated. Please be aware that improperly activating this protocol will result in all costs incurred by the Supernatural Secrecy Containment Agency following the protocol to be charged against you along with substantial fines. With the legal disclaimer out of the way, please explain the situation to me so that I can prepare the response teams."

Ranma quickly filled the new speaker in on the situation. He then heard the more rational voice say. "Understood Lord Ranma, have you." The voice paused for a second and then continued, "A message from the Shinto Faction had come in corroborating your information. You need to move to assist in containing the situation. Even with 9th Plague Protocol in effect, you and your peerage are to use the minimum amount of magic necessary to assist in containment. This is the SSCA out."

The phone call ended at that point and Ranma put away his Devilberry. Ranma then turned to his peerage and said, "Ryoga, I want you to take us to the apartment. Then I want you to round up the rest of the peerage and Botan. We need to get on the same page to handle this crisis." Ryoga and Ryu nodded their heads in understanding. Triple R quickly moved so that everyone was touching Ryoga who immediately activated his Sacred Gear.

A split second later the trio was in the Saotome apartment. Ranma and Ryu let go of Ryoga who promptly teleported away. The young king quickly grabbed and booted up his laptop while he waited for his peerage to arrive. He immediately logged into the SSCA's website to figure out where is peerage could best be put to use. Kurama was dropped off just after Ranma was finished verifying his identity.

There was a bewildered look on the bishop's face as he turned to face his king. He then asked with worry laced with steel. "What is going on Ranma? Ryoga said you needed me now and that my mother needed to stay inside for her safety."

Ranma looked up from the computer screen and replied, "I'll fill you in once Ryoga's rounded everyone up. That way I don't need to repeat myself three times." Ranma then returned his gaze to the computer screen where he had pulled up a map of the city. The SSCA's mystic radar couldn't pick up the insects. No doubt they were too small and weak to be picked up by the radar. That this was all happening in a city which also had several major natural and also several living sources of mystical energy wasn't doing the mystic radar any favors either. Luckily, the radar was able to detect the infected humans and the non-infected humans.

Botan and Hiei were then dropped off by Ryoga who immediately disappeared to retrieve Yusuke. Hiei looked around and asked, "Why was Ryoga sent to pick us up instead of having us teleport in ourselves?"

Ryu quickly answered that question. "Ryoga's teleportation abilities with Sinbad's Astrolabe are quicker and take up far less energy than a regular teleport spell. Usually that's not an issue. However, in our current situation every last drop of power we can save can really matter."

Hiei focused on Ryu and said, "And just what situation is that?"

Ranma pipped in, "I'll explain it once Ryoga and Yusuke are back here. Besides, that will give Botan a chance to get any updates on her side." Hiei, Ryu, and Kurama turned to look at Botan who was using her compact communicator obviously in the middle of a conversation. Ranma returned to looking at his laptop while the trio of peerage members stood around looking at each other.

Silence ruled for a minute as everyone was waiting for Ryoga's return with Yusuke. Frowns started to appear as the duo failed to materialize. Ranma started to zoom in his map of the city on Yusuke's school hoping for some insight. There were a couple of infected humans, but nothing major. Maybe Ryoga had to take care of them before he got to Yusuke? Ranma couldn't be sure since the radar wasn't currently set to detect devil energies.

New arrivals appeared in the room just as Ranma was about to cast a communication spell. However, he and everyone else in the room were surprised to see that Ryoga and Yusuke had a couple of unexpected companions. Keiko was a surprise, but an understandable one. Part of Ranma was relieved to know that she was safe as Yusuke's friend fell under his protection. However, he didn't recognize the other companion who had red hair in a pompadour style wearing the typical boy's uniform for Yusuke's school.

Ryu piped in before Ranma could say anything asking, "Who's this Ryoga? We are trying to limit the spread of supernatural awareness remember?"

Ryoga looked a little nervous, but Yusuke spoke up in his fellow rook's defense. "Take it easy Ryu. Kuwabara was already aware of the supernatural. Granted he doesn't know too much. However, that's to be expected from the dumbest member of Sarayashiki Junior High School."

Ranma's eyes widened after he heard the boy's name. Kazuma Kuwabara had been one of the potential peerage members that he had rejected for future consideration. The boy had a strong spiritual talent that made him very sensitive to the supernatural. He also was a very good fighter for a brawler of his age.

However, Ranma had dropped him from further consideration due to the boy's scholastic failures. The dumbass got a freaking 7 on the same test that Yusuke got a 12 on before his rook was revived. Yusuke getting a B was only due a monumental effort on his and Sona's parts. The fact that his mother accepted Hiei having to go into a special tutoring program was all that saved Ranma's freedom from that scholastic mess. Ranma refused to risk his freedom on a third person doing poor in school. His mother would engage him to Gabriel before Ranma would bring an academic failure like Kuwabara into his peerage.

Ranma turned to Botan who was putting down her communicator and he said, "You can give us an update after I explain the current situation." Ranma turned to look at everyone and continued, "This city is under attack. Mystical insects are infecting humans and turning them into drones. The Underworld is currently mobilizing forces to contain the situation and insure that knowledge of the supernatural is not spread to the population at large. Secondary to this is to reverse the situation so that normal operations can resume. Local forces from other supernatural factions are also being mobilized to help contain the situation. We are going to be part of the containment process." He then turned to Botan and motioned for her to speak.

Botan was thankful that her kimono helped to hide her trembling limbs as she looked at the eight people waiting for her to talk. She discreetly straightened up and said, "I've just got word from Koenma. Reikai has been contacted by the rulers of Demon City in Makai who are claiming responsibility for this incident. They want the barrier separating Makai to be dropped and are threatening to unleash the insects across more cities if their demands are not met."

Ranma crossed his arms and asked, "And just what is Reikai going to do to stop this? That barrier can't fall." The Makai Barrier kept most Makai Yokai confined to their world. Those yokai typically weren't concerned about keeping the supernatural hidden. Losing the barrier would be a disaster for everyone.

Botan turned to look at Ranma and sighed. "Officially Reikai cannot do anything about this. The rulers of Demon City are threatening to have the controlled humans go on a rampage if a single official Makai soldier comes within sight of their city."

Yusuke piped in. "You said officially. Why do I get the feeling that the tyke wants to put my ass on the grill to save his bacon again."

Botan looked at Yusuke with a frown on her face as she said, "That's not precisely what Lord Koenma wants Yusuke."

She then turned to Ranma and said, "Lord Koenma would like to contract the services of at least 2 more of your peerage to assist Yusuke in locating and destroying the Makai Whistle. This whistle is what is controlling the insects."

Ranma nodded his head and said, "I agree using Section 7, paragraph 4 of Yusuke's retainer contract. I offer Ryoga and Hiei to assist Yusuke. Is this agreeable?"

Botan nodded and replied, "Agreed." Koenma would probably have preferred Ryu over Hiei given the difference in their cost. However, Hiei's speed was excellent for a quick operation. The fee increase was nothing to the cost of a few more minutes of keeping this mess contained.

Kuwabara interrupted at this moment. "I'm going with Yusuke. Someone has to make sure he doesn't screw up. Besides, I can't stand the thought of these jerks messing up my city."

Ranma snapped his head towards Kuwabara and channeled a touch of his devil energy at the boy before he stated. "You aren't going to Demon City at all punk. This is a stealth mission so the fewer people going the better. Also, you have no way to escape Demon City on your own. I'm not risking the lives of my peerage to save you just because you want to look like a tough guy."

"If you want to help you'll need to demonstrate some useful mystical skill to me. If you do so I'm willing to let you help me keep the situation in the city contained. If you cannot show such skill I'm willing to grant you my protection in this situation by staying here with Keiko safe in the barriers set up around this apartment. You can still choose to leave and do things on your own in the city. However, leaving without my permission to join in containing the situation will revoke my protection and the barriers will not let you back in. At that point you will just be another bystander and whose fate I will not care about."

Kuwabara was unnerved for a moment by this declaration. He took a deep breath and looked Ranma in the eye. The young boy said, "I'm sensitive to spiritual things. I can tell that Keiko and I are the only humans in this room. You and that girl feel different from Yusuke and the others. However, you feel sort of like Yusuke while the girl feels different from everyone. In addition to my spiritual sensitivity I've also learned how to use my spiritual powers as a weapon. Can I show you?"

Ranma nodded his head in agreement. He then watched as Kuwabara held his hands together and formed an orange reiki sword. That was impressive for a teen with no mystic training to do. Kuwabara gave a few demonstration swings with his sword and then dispelled it.

"Okay," Ranma said without hesitation. "You can help me keep the city contained." Ranma was willing to let Kuwabara help out in this situation. However, Gabriel didn't need to worry about picking out a wedding dress. Kuwabara still wouldn't be invited into the peerage even with his spirit sword.

* * *

It was a herculean task to keep this supernatural incident contained in a city in the internet age. Reikai's and the Underworld SSCA's best hackers were furiously downloading hundreds of thousands of computer viruses into electronic devices of all sorts. Coordination was a tricky task as neither faction had set up a line of communication big enough to handle the sheer volume of information that needed to be passed around. Many hackers had to create backdoors to talk to their counterparts to limit their tripping over each other.

Things became even more complicated with other factions learned about the Demon City Attack. These other factions added their own resources into dealing with the situation. Sadly, most of those new resources were wasted do to the lack of coordination and trust. How could anyone not expect a hated rival to use this chance to hack their own information systems? It was a true miracle that the cat wasn't let out of the bag because so many people were trying to hold the bag and shove the cat inside.

Ranma was glad that he didn't have to deal with those headaches as he tried to contain the situation on the ground. He was constantly flying around and creating barriers to contain the infected humans. Kurama was straining his bishop powers creating vast clouds of gas that placated the infected. This made it easier and quicker for them to be trapped inside a barrier. Ryu was playing a nasty variant of whack-a-mole trying to kill as many Makai Insects as he could. Kuwabara was tasked with dealing with infected stragglers before they could form a new mob. Botan got to play red baron dive bombing the imprisoned infected and dropping bug bombs on them. These bombs cleared the infection leaving the now free humans protected by the barriers.

Everyone had a spell cast on them so that the SSCA could give them directions. There was no time for rest or to even take a quick breather. As soon as one mob was contained another three needed to be handled. Part of Ranma wondered how they would cover this up. He saw cars burning and store fronts destroyed as he flew from one batch of infected to another. Part of his mind was running up a rough tally of the damage as he worked. Grandfather better be prepping some replacement hearts because the heads of insurance companies will be getting heart attacks when they get the bill.

Ranma was annoyed at the sight of non-infected humans using this as an opportunity to loot stores. Where was their sense of self-preservation? He mentally lowered the criminals importance on the list of those needing saving. Keeping as many humans alive as possible would make it easier for creating a cover story. However, most humans wouldn't be too bothered if some of the scum got unknowingly trimmed. It wouldn't a big loss to the devils since these people weren't any of his peerage's customers.

The insects suddenly started retreating and the infected humans stopped moving. Ranma signaled for everyone to hold as the spell lines buzzed with confusion. Then a commanding voice in SSCA called out on everyone spell. "The insects have been stopped. I repeat, the insects have been stopped. Contracted devil forces have destroyed the Makai Whistle."

Ranma jumped into the air with his fist raised high in victory as he shouted, "Yes! I knew those guys could do it!"

Everyone working to contain the Makai Insects let out a cheer. The hard part was over! Now they just needed to move onto clean up and then this would all be a bad memory.

An unexpected shot rang out and Botan cried out as she fell from her oar. Ranma turned to Ryu and shouted, "Capture whoever did that!" The high devil dove towards Botan as several more shots rang out. Ryu and Kurama were grazed by the shots and then they were pelted in the back by fragments of the bullets. Ranma luckily dodged the shot aimed at him. Ranma caught Botan just as she was about the hit the ground. He shielded her as best he could while he landed in a looted coffee shop.

Botan's face had lost most of its color by the time Ranma set her down to look at the wound. It was worse than he feared. Botan's arm was limply hanging off her body by a few muscles and skin. The shot had hit her in the armpit before it exploded. Ribs were visibly cracked as blood freely flowed from the spirit ferry.

Ranma put his hand over Botan's chest and hurriedly called up a small copy of the Sitri sigil creating a faint blue light over the girl. She was dying and there was no way Ranma could get her to an operating room fast enough. If only Ryoga was here there might have been a faint chance.

Botan saw the look of worry on Ranma's face and shivered. "I'm scared Ranma. I, I don't want to die. I wish to live." Botan's voice grew weak and she started to close her eyes.

A fierce determination burned in Ranma's heart. He would not lose Botan. She had become a friend over the past couple of months and friends were too rare to lose. Ranma slapped Botan and said, "Do you wish to live no matter what?"

Part of Botan wondered why Ranma was asking that. However she whispered out with her last bit of strength, "Yes"

Ranma scanned Botan again and nodded his head. He summoned an evil piece and ritually intoned: "I am Ranma Sitri of the noble House Sitri. It is my judgement that you are worthy of transcending your transient mortal flesh and walking this world as a devil. Botan, know that a shallow mortal grave shall not be yours."

The devil placed the evil piece onto Botan's just stilled heart. Ranma spoke again, "From this day forward until your true last I bequeath unto you the gift of devilhood. As my Pawn, you shall be counted among my companions taking joy in all that I love and scorning all that I despise. So I have commanded, so shall it be done!"

Ryu called Ranma with a spell as the evil piece worked its magic. "We've captured the shooter Ranma."

There was a cold edge to Ranma's voice as he spoke. "Find out why he shot at us and anything of value he knows. Contact the SSCA as well. We might have just found the mundane cause for this catastrophe we need to cover this mess up."

* * *

Botan was disoriented as she woke up holding a body pillow. That didn't seem right at all. Her mind cleared enough to remember that she didn't have a body pillow. Botan nervously opened an eye and was greeted by a sea of black hair that was lodged between her breasts. Her heart started racing as she yelled out, "What the hell!" She also pushed away trying to get some space and bearings. Panicking, Botan didn't check where her hands were going and she slipped on the silk sheets surrounding her. This rocked the bed and woke up her companion.

Serafall let out small groan as she raised her head and looked at Botan. "That wasn't a very nice way to wake up Bo-chan."

Seeing Serafall in the nude was not something Botan ever imagined or even considered. The satan's sinful body was such that even Botan could see why so many people lusted for her. Botan pulled her eyes away and soon saw that she was naked as well. "Why are we in bed and why are we naked?"

A chuckle escaped Serafall's lips as she watched Botan try to cover herself back up as she spoke. Serafall smirked and said, "Don't be so skittish Bo-chan. You should be proud of your body. Now in answer to your question we're naked in bed so that I could transfer devil energy to you to help speed up your recovery from being resurrected. Ranma figured that you'd be more comfortable doing this with a girl and asked me if I would help."

"Resurrection," Botan muttered in a confused voice for a second. The memories rushed back of her being shot and Ranma asking her if she wanted to live no matter what. She closed her eyes and focused on her energies. The taste was different and her reserves had increased by a decent fraction. "I'm a devil now."

"Yep," Serafall chirped with a smile on her face. "You're Ranma's newest and cutest pawn! I've already taken the liberty of calling Koenma and arranging it so that you'll keep your current job as a long-term contract to be on."

Her job was the last thing on Botan's mind at the moment. However, it was nice to hear that she wasn't out of work. Botan focused her attention on Serafall and asked, "Who shot me and why?"

Serafall started to style her hair as she spoke. "You were shot by a mystical hitman that the leaders of Demon City paid to go after anyone trying to contain the situation. He's been captured and is the cause of the 'mass shooting' that triggered the rioting in the city in mortal eyes. The hitman actually killed several Reikai agents in other parts of the city before he went after your group."

Getting taken down by hired muscle was not how Botan ever expected to buy the farm. At least she was still alive even if it was as a devil. That's when the fact squarely hit Botan. She was a devil now and no longer part of Reikai. Instead, she was part of Clan Sitri and the underworld. Would she ever be able to visit her old home and friends again? Would her friends even want to talk to her now that she was a devil?

It was easy for Serafall to see the pensive look on Botan's face. No doubt her son's pawn would be thinking about everything her transformation would cost her. However, that wasn't what Botan needed to be thinking about now. Serafall smiled and said, "Look at the bright side Botan. You are alive and have a long life ahead of you. It's going to be easier for you to increase your social status now than it was as a ferry girl for Reikai."

Botan hadn't thought about that before. As a ferry girl she really didn't have many career options. Supervisor positions didn't open up that often and most other departments required very different skill sets. She enjoyed hands on work and each soul was unique making things interesting. Having an interesting job was vital when your career would last centuries. That didn't change the fact that her career as a ferry girl had nowhere to go.

That wasn't the case now as a devil. Botan knew that Devil society was surprisingly mobile if one put in the effort to get stronger. She would be putting in that effort. Botan was under no illusions having watched Ranma train his peerage to the bone repeatedly. There was no way that Ranma was going to let her get out that work. In some ways it was good since Botan knew Ranma would make her strong. It was also really bad since Botan didn't want to do all that work.

Serafall was not chosen to be the Satan of foreign affairs on a whim or by lot. She had a gift at reading people and figuring out what they were thinking. This gift had been honed over the centuries by constant practice and usage. Botan might as well have been an open book to Serafall. She saw what her son's new pawn was thinking about and decided to steer the young woman's thoughts.

"You know Botan there are many benefits to becoming stronger. The workout and training regime aren't fun at first. However, the benefits soon become enjoyable. There's something truly liberating about being able to destroy mountains. It's amazing how many people stop bothering when you want them to once they know you can end them."

Serafall crawled closer to Botan and gently caressed her shoulder as she whispered. "However the real benefit to becoming stronger for female devils is in our looks. Our bodies become more idealized and sexier the stronger we become. Your looks are wonderful right now. Imagine how enticing you'll be as a high class devil. I wouldn't be surprised if you soon become sexy enough to leave my son absolutely speechless."

A blush appeared on Botan's face at that thought. Ranma was an attractive young man both physically and in personality. She hadn't given it that much thought before given that they had been in different factions. But, that wasn't the case now. It was well known that many devils, especially male devils, would take peerage members of the opposite gender as lovers. Botan also knew that the devils had made replenishing their numbers a major priority.

Serafall spoke in a sultry tone. "I'm willing to help you get stronger Botan. You'll soon be too irresistible for Ranma control himself. Maybe you'll have pity on the slightly clueless boy and give him an unforgettable birthday present? Wouldn't it be wonderful to show Ranma just why reviving you was one of the best decisions he will ever make?"

Botan felt like she had a lump in her throat. She spoke with a stammer. "Are you saying that you? I mean, it's just that Ranma is."

Two soft fingers were gently placed on Botan's lips to quiet her. Serafall inched closer and Botan could feel the satan's hot breath on her cheeks. She cheerfully whispered, "Is it really that hard to understand that a mother would want her son to have a good concubine? The dumb dolt is already halfway in love with you. If he didn't feel strongly about you he wouldn't have asked me to help you. Asking a favor of a satan is no small thing even when said satan is your parent."

This fact started to sink into Botan's mind much to Serafall's delight. The former spirit guide would make a wonderful start to Ranma's harem. Sona would always be the chief woman for her son in her plans. If things worked out like Serafall thought they might her sister's position would not have to be a secret. Regardless, Sona could not be expected to bare the large brood of children Clan Sitri needed from its main line by herself. Doing so would make Sona's personal dreams much harder to accomplish. That was unacceptable for Serafall.

However, Clan Sitiri couldn't afford to have just a couple of kids in the next generation. Ranma could resolve that issue with a few helpful women. Botan would hopefully be the first woman of that group. She had potential. That potential was something Serafall wanted to see in her grandchildren.

Some people might think it hypocritical of Serafall to want her son have a harem while she didn't want to be in a harem herself. The truth was that Serafall wouldn't mind being in Sirzechs-chan's harem if she knew that he would give her a portion of his heart. However, Grayfia owned all of Sirzechs-chan's heart and would never part with even the tiniest speck of it. Being part of a small and close harem was one thing. Just being another devil's broodmare was something else entirely.

Such a thing wouldn't happen to Botan or any other lady Ranma bedded. Serafall knew how Ranma thought and acted. His pride and sense of duty wouldn't let him be callous with the girls' feelings or needs. She also knew that Ranma would not be up for one night stands or short affairs like most devils his age. If Ranma had more than 10 lovers at once Serafall would kiss Gabriel on the lips. For a human that number would be huge. However, it was rather small for a devil of Ranma's pedigree and rank. The unofficial average for highborn devils was in the mid-30s.

Serafall smiled at Botan and said, "I don't mind you walking around like that Botan and I know Ranma would love seeing you like this. However, I think we should try on some of the new outfits I ordered for you."


	13. Chapter 13

Genma came in the door and saw Ranma at the kitchen table typing on his laptop. He huffed and spoke to his son. "I take it you're writing a report about all of the craziness that happened recently?"

Ranma looked up from his computer screen revealing the bags under his eyes. "It's been a really long day pops. I just want to finish this report and go to sleep."

The older Saotome nodded his head and stated, "Just answer me one thing Ranma. This kind of craziness won't happen again right?" Genma had seen the Makai insects infecting others and the carnage the infected unleashed on the city. It was not something he wanted Ranma or the boy's peerage to be around. Unexpected challenges and tough martial arts training was one thing. That had been something entirely else and was not healthy for growing boys.

There was a haunted look in Ranma's eyes as he replied, "It better not happen again. We might not be so lucky next time." So many factions had barely been able to keep the supernatural a secret from humanity at large. Almost four centuries of haphazardly coordinated efforts to hide the supernatural had nearly been undone.

This would have been a massive blow to all supernatural entities. Almost every group had their own reasons why they wanted to keep themselves secret. Devils hid because it made their customer base less hostile, less likely to effectively attack them, and less likely to support heaven. The jackass in the sky powered Heaven with the faith of humans. That faith was much more potent and powerful if they didn't have solid proof of the jackass's existence. Only a few fringed groups would try to upend the current arrangements the supernatural had with the natural.

Said groups were given an object lesson on why they shouldn't mess with the status quo. Demon City had been obliterated by Sirzechs once it was confirmed that Ryoga had the Makai Whistle and was out of the city. That was not hyperbole. Sirzechs used his power of destruction to wipe out Demon City with a blast the equivalent of the most powerful nuclear bomb ever tested by humans. The only disagreements the leaders of the other factions involved in the Demon City mess had with Sirzechs wiping out the city was that they didn't get to wipe it out first.

As for Ranma peerage members, their actions in Demon City had earned them some accolades. They used Ryoga's Sacred Gear to sneak into the city. They also used it to sneak around any threats. Anything that couldn't be avoided was quickly dispatched by Hiei with a quick killing blow. Grandstanding had no place in the operations and the boys remembered that fact. Only one of the four leaders of Demon City had been encountered. That had been their leader with the Makai Whistle.

The trio handled that situation like pros. They didn't run in like some shonen heroes and change Suzaku for the Makai Whistle. Instead, they hid in the shadows until Suzaku put the whistle down and had Hiei dash to snag it. Hiei already had the whistle and was halfway back to Ryoga before Suzaku even knew there was someone in the room. The instant Hiei was touching Ryoga again the trio was out of the city and giving the clear to fire message.

Ranma gave his after action review one last look over and then submitted it. He shut down his laptop and said, "Just so you know Pops, Botan is now my pawn so she'll be around more often. I'm going to hit the hay and get some sleep."

Genma nodded in agreement and watched his son head to his bedroom. It would be okay to let the boys have one morning off from practice tomorrow. They had done a major public service after all. That would be enough of an award.

Part of Genma was surprised to hear that Botan was now part of his son's peerage. The boy seemed to have been focusing on fighters. Genma just shrugged off the news after a moment of thought. Having a support member or two couldn't hurt. Besides, Botan could be a bodyguard and friend for Ranma's future wife. Soun might have a problem with the arraignment at first. However, Genma didn't see the problem. It wasn't like Botan was going to become Ranma's girlfriend.

* * *

Something jolted Ranma awake around 3 am in the morning. He looked around and tried to sense what woke him. There wasn't anything out of place in the room. Ryu was sleeping soundly in the nearby futon. None of the wards were sounding any alarms. Ranma couldn't recall having unsetting dreams. There were no calls from his peerage.

It was as a switch flipped in Ranma's mind as realization hit him. He closed his eyes and focused on his connection to his Evil Pieces. Every devil with a peerage was connected to their Evil Pieces. The connection was part of what made the Evil Pieces work as they should. Most devils ignored the connection and forgot it even existed. However, those who focused on controlling their inner energies could draw more insights on their peerages through that connection.

Ranma wasn't a master when it came to understanding his peerage through the Evil Piece connection. He could only get the vaguest of impressions. The fact that he could sense even that put him centuries ahead of his peers. The impressions Ranma got from Ryu were the strongest and the clearest. No surprise there, given Ryu's physical proximity and the length of time Ryu had been in the peerage. The connection with the boys basically said that they were okay. With Botan Ranma was just able to tell that she was in his peerage. It was the same with his queen.

When the heaven did a queen join his peerage?! It made no sense what so ever. Ranma immediately summoned his free Evil Pieces to do a tally. 6 pawns appeared on a summoned chess table along with a knight and a bishop. The queen piece did not appear like it should have. Ranma snarled, "Like heaven I have time for this shit! Can't I have one Satan blessed week off before the shenanigans start?"

The young king quickly considered everything he knew about Evil Pieces and how this could have happened. The simple fact was it shouldn't. Ranma's Evil Pieces were stored is a subspace pocket and those could only be opened by those keyed to them. Moreover, Evil Pieces needed the free consent of the king to activate. No one could turn themselves into a devil just by grabbing a piece. The king tied to the piece had to be present to channel their power along with saying their activation phrase for the piece to work.

Trying to force the devil into using or unknowingly activating an Evil Piece wouldn't work as well. It was a closely guarded secret as to the mechanics. However, every devil knew that an Evil Piece required deliberate and freely chosen choice to work. Drugs and spells were useless in changing a devil's mind to manipulate the system. It was also tied into the trade system which was why no one could force a devil to trade a member of their peerage.

Ranma proceeded to cast some self-diagnostic spells. He had to have turned someone into his queen and for some reason couldn't recall that person. Why he'd do that or when he would have had the time wasn't something to consider yet. Ranma first needed see where he had altered his memories and when it happened.

Test result after test result from the self-diagnostic spells came back negative. Now Ranma was really starting to get worried. How could his queen piece be used without his knowledge or signs of memory alteration? Ranma could think of several valid reasons why he might have his memory of his queen erased. They might have been assigned a covert mission or they were working on a project that was of paramount secrecy. Having a spell on him to keep himself from thinking about the erased memories would have been reasonably standard. People tend not to go hunting for answers to memory gabs if they don't realize they have them.

However, those self-diagnostic spells would have told Ranma that he was under such spells. He could have rest easily at that point since it would have meant everything was under control. Being aware of a memory gap would have sucked. But, Ranma was sure he could have dealt with that situation reasonably. In such a situation he would at least have the comfort of knowing that his memory would be restored once whatever required the memory to be sealed was handled.

Now Ranma was stuck with an unknown queen and no explanation as to how this happened. This was going to be a nightmare once the news got out. Having a rogue queen was a massive hit against any clan's prestige. Then there would be the panic caused because someone figured out how to hack the evil pieces. Calling it a panic would be understating things. Bedlam, in both uses of the word, would be more accurate.

This news could not get out at all. Ranma couldn't even risk letting his own peerage members know about this catastrophe. He had to find the mysterious queen, deal with the individual, and privately give the information to Ajuka. The Beelzebub could then handle the error without letting everything go to heaven.

A small flash of light grabbed Ranma's attention and he saw an envelope appear next to him. Ranma grabbed the envelope and cast a diagnostic spell on it. He bit back the urge to curse and cast several more diagnostic spells. What the heaven was it about tonight and impossible things happening to him?

The envelope was sealed with the seal of the 7th Prince Sitri. Grandfather was the 5th Prince Sitri and he still had centuries to go before stepping down so that Sona could become the 6th Princess Sitri. Such a seal should have just been a bad forgery. However, there was magic woven into the signet rings of all clan heads to let everyone know that something sealed by them was authentic. Palatini and Comitatenses clan head signet rings had an extra set of authentication magic embedded in them. This seal had all the proper magic proving it was real.

Trying not to freak out, Ranma nervously broke the seal and opened the envelope. Ranma pulled out a piece of paper and felt his stomach lurch as his nose smelled blood on the paper. A scan of the paper revealed that it was his blood on the paper. Blood was a very uncommon ink for devils despite what folklore and stories might claim. It was only used on the most important documents to seal the document from alteration as the magic required the writer's own blood. Even then, it was typically only someone's signature. Very rarely was a boarder used for added protection.

A whimper of fear and disbelief escaped Ranma's mouth. He dropped the paper like it was piece of a hand written bible penned by a saint. Ranma muttered to himself. "I want to wake up now. This is a very terrible and disturbing dream." Ranma prayed that this was all a dream. The divinely caused headache proved Ranma was awake. While nursing his headache, Ranma picked up the paper. He read the letter impossibly sent from himself.

'Myself,

If you are reading this then our queen has successfully traveled back in time to before we reincarnated her as our queen. This particular note means that the queen piece from your time has reacted to its uptime counterpart and merged with our queen. She will be out for an indeterminate amount of time as she adapts to having two queen pieces. Do not go looking for her. There are tasks that she needs to accomplish before you and everyone else can enter the picture. Another prepared message will be sent if her convalescence takes too long. Follow any instructions you get in said letter exactly.

I acquired our queen just before a series of events started that have led to the destruction of the world. A plan is in the works to stop that chain of events. Trust in the plan; I helped to create it. If you cannot trust yourself than who can you trust? Until the next phase of the plan is ready to start go about your life normally. I've only brought you in on the plan now because of your queen piece reacting like it did.

7th Prince of Sitri and last member of the Conclave,

Yourself'

Ranma sealed the letter and stored it in his personal magical storage pocket. It was official, his life could not get more bizarre then it was right now. His unknown queen which he hadn't chosen was already chosen for him in the future. The world will apparently be destroyed in the indeterminate future, but he shouldn't care at all.

Finally, Ranma decided that his only good course of action was to get some sleep. There was no way that he could make a good decision now. He had too many concerns and too little rest. The note heavily implied that he had time to think so he should take that time. Besides, training until he and his peerage dropped was normal life for him. It just so happened to be a wonderful way to prepare for the unknown.

* * *

Botan was slightly nervous as she walked into Ranma's chambers in the Sitri Manson. The boys didn't have school due to the 'mass shooting' and resulting riot that occurred yesterday. Ranma had sent a message to everyone to take the day to relax. However, they were to do some light exercise and expect a full training regime tomorrow.

What made Botan nervous was the fact that Ranma had sent her a second request to see him roughly a half hour after he sent her the general notification. She was worried that he was summoning her to claim his "rights" as her king. Part of her was hoping that was the case to her own mortification. The fact that the premade wardrobe she had been gifted upon waking up in the morning was full of clothes that accented her figure only made things more confusing.

Botan spotted Ranma sitting in an office section of his room working at a desk. Ranma glanced up at Botan and motioned for her to sit down next to him. She sat down as indicated and waited for Ranma to finish up his paperwork. A minute later he finished and turned to look at Botan.

Ranma smiled at Botan and said, "It's good to see you looking well today Botan. According to my grandmother's report, the reincarnation process seems to have been a complete success. There were some concerns about possible complications since you're the first spirit guide to be reincarnated. The risks were minimal, but we couldn't afford to take chances."

Botan nodded her head grateful to hear that news. She hadn't really given her new situation much thought at the moment. Hell, er, heaven, she was still trying to comprehend that her new room was five times bigger than her old apartment. "That's good to hear Ranma."

Her king continued, "A new bank account for you has been opened at the Sheol Central Bank and your old account's assets are being transferred to the main Clan Sitri account. Your new account is being issued shekels from the main Clan Sitri account equal to your old account's kobans per a currency exchange agreement. This was done because the exchange agreement won't happen for several months and I wanted you to have access to your funds ASAP. The exact details will be with your bank paperwork that should be delivered to your room sometime today."

"Your personal assets are supposed to be shipped over in a week. However, with customs it might take a little longer. Information on the moving company will be forwarded to your room once I get it. Your discharge papers form Koenma will also be forwarded when they arrive. A notice to forward your mail here has also been sent out to the Reikai post office. A general notice to all of your monthly subscriptions was sent to transfer them to your new residence. You should be getting a list later today of what subscriptions will transfer and what if any cannot be transferred."

Ranma paused for a second as started to tap his fingers mentally checking things off of a list. He paused for a second as something teased his memory. Ranma smiled as he recalled something. "Oh yes, a letter was mailed out to your family letting them know where you were and how to contact you in the future. That should be everything regarding your move at the moment. Can you think of anything I might have missed?"

Botan shook her head and replied, "No. That's honestly more than I thought about needing to happen since I'm now your pawn. It's still sort of sinking in for me at the moment." It made sense that there would be plenty of paperwork involved with someone moving from one supernatural faction to another. Botan had just never given it any thought before.

A comfortable silence reigned for a minute. Botan used this time to observe her king. She had seen Ranma plenty of times before, but never in quiet work handling the day to day tasks his position involved. Ranma did not rush through his paperwork. He seemingly read over everything and considered what he had read before making a decision.

It was almost a contradiction to the image Botan had of Ranma in her mind. Ranma was a driven individual. His pride could only tolerate not being the best at what he set his mind to if he was working his hardest to be the best. Botan knew that Ranma had set his mind towards physical training and fighting. Ranma repeatedly pushed his peerage to the edge of their abilities during training. That was not something Botan was happy about with her future. However, she at least could take comfort in the fact that Ranma through himself to the edge of his abilities as well.

Ranma glanced up from the paperwork and realized Botan was still sitting near him. He put his pen down and asked, "Is there something else you need Botan?"

A blush appeared on Botan's face and she looked down at her lap for a moment. She took a deep breath and then looked up at Ranma. "Yes, there is something I need to know. Are you expecting me to sleep with you?"

Botan looked back down at her lap and missed the shocked look on Ranma's face. She hurriedly continued. "It's well known that most reincarnated devils tend to end up sexually servicing their kings if they happen to fit the king's preferences. I want to know if that will be the case for us."

Ranma was mentally blessing himself for not thinking about this question coming up. Sairaorg was pretty much the only devil under a century old who didn't dress the girls in his peerage up like pinup models. This wasn't something he had thought about before!

On the one hand, Ranma didn't have time to just sleep around. There were his duties he had to prepare for as Sona's future enforcer. That wasn't considering that blessed letter he got from himself last night. Who has time for sex when the world might end soon?

On the other hand, Ranma was a teenager and curious. He was also half devil which meant that he felt the effects of the 7 mortal sins more intensely than mortals. Pride might be his principal sin, but that didn't insulate Ranma from the other sins. Botan was beautiful and thought of her in the throes of passion caused Ranma's blood to sing.

Ranma took a deep breath and said, "Six months. We won't talk about this again for six months Botan. You need time to adjust to all the changes your life is going through right now. I'm not about to take advantage of my friend and peerage member while you're in a vulnerable state."

Botan was touched that Ranma thought so highly of her. She didn't want to think the worst of Ranma or give the wrong impression. It was just that Botan expected this meeting to involve an erotic workout. She could feel the increased pull towards sin that was not part of her nature. There were a thousand and one ways that Ranma and her passions could have gotten the better of them.

The time limit Ranma gave Botan made her wonder. "What happens after six months are over Ranma?"

A faint blush appeared on Ranma's face for a second as he replied. "That depends on you Botan. If you want to date someone else or stay single that's your prerogative. If you want to pursue something with me I'll be open to it. However, I want something to be very clear to you Botan. If you and I become lovers there will be some restrictions. First and most importantly, you'll never be able to become my wife. That position belongs to whoever my grandfather or perhaps even my aunt if it takes that long decides I'll marry. Sucks, but that's noble politics for you. The other thing to consider is that I won't let you go once your mine. If we ever have sex I'm making you my permanent concubine."

Botan bowed her head and said, "Thank you for being honest with me. I'll think about what we talked about. May I be excused?"

Ranma nodded his head and watched as Botan walked out of the room. He found himself staring at her ass as she walked. Ranma smacked his face with both hands once Botan closed the door. Great, just great, his hormones acting up were the last thing Ranma needed.

* * *

Ajuka Beelzebub looked up from the security report on his desk simmering with rage and fear. Somehow, the SSCA's facilities had been infiltrated and upgraded. Someone had entered the facility and done 1000s of hours of work updating hardware and software. This had all occurred within a single day without anyone noticing. Heaven, the security footage showed some rooms being upgraded while people were in them!

This was a security breach of unimaginable proportions. Whoever did this could have stolen or altered who knows how much information. It would take days to cross reference everything with offsite backups. Then there was the potential for sabotage. Everything had to be examined for traps, spyware, and malware. This was the last thing the SSCA needed after dealing with the Demon City Incident which they were still trying to wrap up.

Ajuka was enraged at all the extra work this put on him and his subordinates. Heaven, it looked like he wasn't going to get to sleep for a week thanks to this workload. Whoever did this had better hope that he never got his hands on them. They were going to pay for making him take so much time away from his research.

Underneath Ajuka's rage was a pit of fear over the upgrades. Every single upgrade had been one that had been planned for the SSCA to undergo over the next 5 years. All the software upgrades installed were supposed to be in development. There was at least one that Ajuka knew was still in the Alpha stage because he had been working on the code yesterday.

Ajuka knew in his heart what had to be the cause of this. Time manipulation was the only way these upgrades could exist. The only way the installation could be done without someone noticing was if the installer drastically altered their personal frame of reference for time allowing hours to go by in the blink of a second. They also had to be able to view the future or travel back in time. It was the only explanation on how they could have gotten the software written by him that he hadn't written yet.

Time manipulation on that magnitude and without massive magical traces was mind boggling. Such a thing might be theoretically possible, but it should be impossible outside of thought experiments. Forbidden Balor View was the most powerful form of time manipulation that Ajuka knew of and it couldn't do something like this. The form of time manipulation used by that sacred gear just wouldn't create the results he had seen.

Could there be a hidden sacred gear that was being used? Possible, but that was extremely unlikely. It had been a long time since the biblical god died and all known sacred gears had recycled through at least one new user since then. Most had been recycled multiple times to new users. Sacred gears weren't something that could be hidden for long. Circumstances always happened to their bearers that exposed them to the supernatural. Either it was an inherent quality of the sacred gears or it intrinsic to the souls selected to bear them.

Now, not every sacred gear was well known. Ajuka knew that this couldn't be the case with his infiltrating upgrader. All sacred gears relating to time were deemed high priority by all factions all the time. Temporal magic was the trickiest and most energy intensive magic to use currently known. It was also one of the most dangerous magics known. Whatever sacred gear had been used had to be near longinius tier. There should be hundreds of reference books on it.

The only other possibility was the existence of a previously unknown chronomancer who had reached hereto unknown levels of mastery with temporal magic. Even that possibility was more unlikely than an unknown sacred gear of such power. Anyone with half a brain kept a careful eye on all mage associations that dabbled in temporal magic. Ajuka knew that the best research of any association was nowhere near the level of development for the kind of magic that had been at work in the SSCA. The idea of a lone genius discovering all of that was a nice fantasy.

Ajuka didn't deal in fantasies. He dealt in facts. Science did not progress through sudden leaps of brilliance shooting into the unknown at speeds rivaling his fellow satans rushing to look after their little sisters. It progressed methodically building on what had come before. Sometimes that pace was faster and at other times slower depending on the quality and quantity of the scientists along with their facilities.

This truth was especially evident to a genius like himself. It had taken Ajuka several decades of hard work to create the Evil Piece system which was hailed as one of the high points of modern magic. Moreover, the reason it took only decades instead of centuries was thanks to all of the reference material of hundreds of mages past and a virtually unlimited supply of resources for experimentation.

The collection of such reference material and resources also made it impossible to hide one's research for long. Oh the details of what one researched could be kept hidden. One could even throw off spies suspicions for a time if one had enough resources to buy unneeded material. However, just ploys only worked for a short time. Ajuka knew this because he had general ideas about what all the other factions were researching. He also knew that they were aware of what his scientists were currently researching.

All of these thoughts came to halt when a piece of paper suddenly appeared on Ajuka's desk. There was no sign of any sort of teleportation. It just appeared there one second like it had always been there. Ajuka's blood froze in his veins. He quickly cast a specialized detection spell and found faint traces of temporal magic. The temporal manipulator had been in this very room and he never even noticed it. He could have been killed if the unknown person was so inclined.

Ajuka picked up the paper and opened it. There was no need to check if it had any traps on it. What would be the point? He would already be dead if the sender meant him harm. The paper had a report of the upgrades to the SSCA. Towards the bottom of the paper the contents shifted throwing Ajuka for a loop. Integration of queen pieces made no sense. Who would be dumb enough to try and reincarnate someone that was already the queen of another peerage?

Ajuka reread that section of the report trying to make sense of the nonsense. The integration had to do with the same evil piece from two different time periods merging together. That put things in a very different perspective. Ajuka couldn't find any sign of whoever had developed the temporal magic used in the SSCA because they hadn't developed it yet.

There must be a mage out there who will develop the art of temporal magic. It's possible that the person in question wasn't even born yet given the subject matter. Whatever the case, the mage was sent backwards in time for some drastic reason. Ajuka couldn't see why else someone would risk meddling with time by going backwards. The SSCA upgrades must have been ordered by whoever sent the time traveler back. Why do that? Was something about to happen that would have been preventable if the SSCA could detect it earlier?


	14. Chapter 14

Ranma frowned as his DevilBerry started to ring in an unknown tone. He pulled out the phone and saw that it was the new SSCA's app that was ringing. The app apparently was in response to the Demon City Incident two weeks ago. All devil phone systems were required to have the app and to keep it up to date. Most devils weren't happy with Ajuka's rather heavy handed decree. The fact that the app was mandated in response to the near unveiling of the supernatural had kept complaints to a simmer.

There was an unknown mystical field nearby that had been detected by the SSCA. The fact that the SSCA couldn't identify the field was surprising and a little worrying. Devil magical records were quite extensive and an inference could be made about who a field belonged to even if it was heavy modified. It also wasn't like a supernatural faction could truly hide itself these days. You could hide the general location of something. However, everyone would still know that something was hidden and who was hiding it.

Part of Ranma was curious about the mystical field. Ranma also knew that the higher ups would want to know what it was that they could catalogue. He selected the map finder part of the app and started walking towards the mystical field. To the human onlookers Ranma looked like any other teen with his eyes glued to his phone. That is, if any could be bothered to look up from their own phones.

Ranma was led by his app to a brick alleyway. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Whoever had created this field was being pretty cliché about it. Ranma scanned the field and was surprised by what he found. There were no proximity alarms, no barriers to keep others out, and nothing to keep someone from crossing the field. He paused to discretely cast an avoidance field to keep people out of the alley.

This field was part of a trap. That was the only reason Ranma could see why someone would set up a mystical field in the middle of the city and leave the proverbial gate wide open without an alarm. Such a thing couldn't be tolerated. The masquerade here was frayed enough now. Unexplained disappearances and mysterious events were the last thing anyone needed.

Whoever was behind this had to be stopped for the supernatural good. Ranma figured that he might as well be the person to stop whatever this was since he was here now. A smirk briefly appeared on Ranma's face at the thought of a devil playing the part of the hero. He did one last check to make sure that no mortals could observe anything and walked past the field.

A sense of vertigo hit Ranma as he was suddenly flipped 90 degrees and seemed to have stepped into wonderland. Hundreds of cartoon like animals in black and white frolicked around Ranma. The surroundings had changed from the heart of the city to a meadow. Everything that should have been green on all the surrounding plants was pink and the sky was yellow. His ears heard the sound of childish singing that was coming from the cartoon animals.

Ranma looked around in and muttered, "What the heaven? What is going on here?" None of this made any sense. Why would anyone create such a field and stick such a bizarre scene in it? Anyone who had the ability to create such a field would have at least kept it in their own residence. Who would want anyone to stumble into their embarrassing fantasies?

The feeling of bizarreness caused Ranma to close his eyes and try to think about what might be going on. Typically, it meant that someone was trying to hide something when they used magic to create illusions. Whether the something hidden was benign like the surroundings to show a tale being told or if it was hostile like an enemy attack depended on who cast the illusion. This bizzaro realm was hidden in such a way that anyone could stumble into it so Ranma was leaning towards the malevolent side of intention.

Ranma started to go through the mental check list to check on his condition. There was an actual check list that the Sitri had made sure they were not under any unwanted influences in situations like this. First he checked that his mind was working properly. Then he checked his senses. Ranma then moved on to checking his power. This was when he first encountered a problem. Something was minutely, but constantly draining his power reserves.

This must be the purpose of bizzaro land. It was a trap to lure people in and drain them of their energy. The trap seemed to be attuned to chi given how Ranma's power reserves were being drained. Part of Ranma was impressed by the ploy. Regular humans would be so confused by the realm that they wouldn't realize the trouble they were in until it was too late. Sticking the trap's entrance in an alley in one of the nastier areas of the city would provide a reasonable alibi for the victim's disappearance or the disposal of their corpse.

However, Ranma was not going to have that and he released a pulse of his chi laced with a tracking spell to locate the drain source. Some of the chi was absorbed by the surroundings. A much higher concentration of chi was absorbed by the cartoon like animals. The largest amount was absorbed by something further into the lair.

Whatever was behind this realm realized that Ranma was onto it. The cute cartoon creatures morphed into predators from an outdoors horror manga. Wolves, tigers, lions, hyenas, bears, and oversized serpents charged at Ranma. The chi drain was kicked into overdrive and forced Ranma to take several precious seconds to cast a protective spell. The spell wouldn't stop the chi drain, but it would keep it manageable.

The horde of creatures were about to reach Ranma when they suddenly were ripped to shreds. Ranma blurted out in shock, "What the heaven?" This just didn't make any sense. How could all those creatures suddenly be reduced to the consistency of cubes fit for a stew? It's couldn't be some sort of trick sense the creatures stopped draining his chi.

A calm and somewhat monotone voice spoke out from behind Ranma. "Looks like I owe Botan first dibs. Even with the warning from yourself you couldn't avoid falling into this mess before the month was out Ranma."

Said devil turned around to see a 14 year old girl with long dark hair that had a red bow on her left side in it. Ranma's attention was quickly drawn to her violet eyes. He then focused on the girl's outfit which was a mix of blacks and purples. She was wearing a dress that would have been sultry on an older woman and was scandalous for girl her age by human standards. Said dress was split down the front as soon public modesty allowed revealing thigh high stockings. The outfit was topped off with a set of gloves that went up to the girl's biceps.

The proverbial wheels started to spin in Ranma's mind as he realized what his companion said. He then stated, "You're my queen."

Said queen nodded her head and said, "That's correct Ranma. Let me take care of the witch and then we can talk." Ranma felt a faint buildup of power from his link to the queen piece for a second. Then then link seemed to go haywire for lack of a better word. A second later, the bizarre realm he was in disappeared leaving him standing in the alleyway. His queen was standing a little off from where she had been a second ago.

Part of Ranma was happy that he no longer had to deal with the chi drain. However, the lack of information was starting to bug him. He turned to his queen and asked, "What was that?"

Calmly the queen replied, "That was a witch's lair. It is used by witches to entrap victims in order to drain the victims' energy."

Ranma looked at his queen who had changed into a school girl's outfit while she was talking. "A Witch, I've never heard of a supernatural being actually referring to themselves as that. Only weird humans who want to pretend to have or delude themselves into thinking they have magical powers call themselves that."

The queen smiled and replied, "You've told me that before Ranma. Seven weeks from now going by the calendar. We eventually found out in my past that these creatures are where the term 'witches' entered human knowledge. Speaking of knowledge you learned in my past, I suppose I should introduce myself to you. I am your queen Homura Akemi."

Ranma nodded his head and said, "It's good to meet you Homura. Did I add you to my peerage because of your temporal abilities?" Thanks to the letter he wrote to himself Ranma had seen several signs that someone might be using temporal magic to alter things. Homura's sudden destruction of the witch along with the weird activity of the peerage link implied her using temporal magic. That suggested that she either had temporal magic or an item capable of using temporal magic.

Homura shook her head and motioned for Ranma to follow her. She started talking again as they walked. "No Ranma. You added me to your peerage to fulfill a promise to your mother. The one where you promised if you ever encountered any real magical girls who would be willing to become devils and you could turn them you would?"

"You mean you were, are a magical girl?" That was a big shocker for Ranma. Who would have thought that he'd actually have to make good on that promise?

"Technically, I still am a magical girl if we go by your mother's definition. However, I'm no longer a magical girl in the sense that I was when you added me to your peerage. That is something I am grateful for given the downsides of my original type of magical girl."

Ranma asked. "So Homura, why did you join my peerage?" What could have driven a magical girl to become a devil? It just didn't make sense to him given the stereotypes on both sides.

Flatly Homura replied, "I needed to survive." The duo paused and Ranma turned to look at his queen. She elaborated further. "You joined in the tail end of my battle with a powerful witch known as Walpurgisnacht. With your help, a friend and I defeated Walpurgisnacht. However, my companion ended up transforming into an extremely powerful witch and I was too weak to travel back in time to stop that event. You made me your queen to keep me alive."

The fact that Ranma had added Homura to his peerage when she was at her most vulnerable did not faze him at all. He knew that by human morality he had acted pretty low. However, from a devil's perspective it sounded like he was moralistic in resurrecting Homura. He did it to fulfill a promise to his mother without any knowledge of Homura's usefulness to his peerage. He also got her consent while she was alive instead of waiting for her to die and resurrecting her without any say on her part. The fact that Homura was apparently a powerhouse made it payoff big time.

Ranma then asked. "Did it take you a long time to recover? I'm assuming that's why you didn't jump back immediately to save your friend and we ended up dealing with that world ending threat."

Homura trembled as she spoke. "The world ending threat was Kriemhild Gretchen, the witch that Madoka transformed into. I would have jumped back to this time frame months ago from my perspective. However, no one was sure what would happen if a reincarnated devil traveled back in time before they were reincarnated. Then there was the fact that I was on the verge of becoming a witch myself before you resurrected me. Would I become a witch by jumping back, a mindless stray devil, or some mixture of the two?"

The young queen grabbed onto her king's arm and leaned into Ranma. She whispered, "You and the Norns ordered me to jump so far back as there was nothing left to save on Earth or the supernatural realms."

How was he supposed to respond to that statement? Ranma had enough trouble wrapping his head around the idea of the world ending. Homura had lived through it and probably several variations of the path to destruction given her abilities. Ranma used his free arm to pull Homura into a hug allowing her to cry into his chest. All of the pain and misfortune Homura experience was poured out through her tears and sobs.

* * *

Serafall was in her office going over the monthly figures for the Leviathan Estates when one of her alert spells went off. This spell told her that Ranma had entered his personal guest quarters in the mansion with an unknown guest. The question why would Ranma do this immediately came to Serafall's mind. Ranma very rarely stayed at her mansion. Mostly because there weren't that many reasons for the head of Clan Leviathan to have the second heir of a vassal clan stay at her place. The fact that said heir was her only child was a meaningless fact to popular opinion.

Ranma had visited Serafall many times at her palace. However, he typically announced when he was coming over for a visit to insure that Serafall would be at the palace. Mother and son usually found it easier for her to visit him when she could make the time. This made his discreet entrance with a guest perplexing.

For a moment, Serafall wondered if her son was bringing over his fiancée to meet her. Serafall banished that idea. She would have heard months ago if her parents were actively looking for Ranma's bride. Serafall also had different alert tags for every girl she knew of that was close to Ranma or could potentially become close.

Serafall couldn't resist her curiosity any longer and left her office for Ranma's guest quarters. She entered Ranma's quarters and saw her son sitting on a chair next to his bed. On the bed lay an unknown girl about a year younger than him. The girl was beautiful for her age, but that beauty was disturbed by the signs of anguish on her sleeping form. Serafall immediately notice that the unknown girl had a death grip on Ranma's left hand.

Ranma turned his head to look at his mother. "Good to see you mom. This is Homura, my queen that was resurrected 6 weeks in the future."

That statement caused Serafall to stop in her tracks. She knew that Ranma wouldn't mess up his verb tenses by accident. Authoritatively Serafall stated, "She's the rogue temporal mage we've been trying to track down these past two weeks."

"Homura was acting on my orders as the last surviving authority figure for devils."

Serafall whipped her head around to stare at Ranma in shock. "What?"

Ranma kept his eyes on Homura as he spoke. "There's another faction out known as the Incubators and they are going to completely screw all of us over with their actions. They create contracts with young girls transforming them into magical girls to fight beings known as witches in exchange for a single wish. Catch is that witches are former magical girls who transform because of the design of the Incubators. Witches generate and collect power which the magical girls unknowingly harness for the Incubators by killing the witches. It also turns out that the fragments of witches known as familiars can leave their parent witch and spawn a new witch by feeding on humans."

"It seems that the Incubators have been running this little energy harvesting scheme for centuries if not millennia without being discovered by any supernatural faction. I'm actually rather impressed by what they've pulled off. However, their witches have been getting more powerful and out of control. One of them in a possible future managed to destroy all life on Earth and was decimating the supernatural realms."

"I don't know all the details since Homura hasn't been able to relate them to me. However, Devilkind was devastated to the point that Clan Sitri absorbed every other devil clan regardless of rank into itself and it was still a third its present size."

Every drop of blood drained from Serafall's face. She stuttered out, "Even the vassal clans?" Ranma's nod caused Serafall to fall to the floor. "But that's over 98 percent of all devils being whipped out! Not even the Evil Pieces would be able to keep us from going extinct."

"I know mother. What's more, Homura experienced several variations of our extinction before it was deemed prudent for her to travel back to before she became a devil. She's been working on a plan we developed to try and prevent that all from happening."

"How long have you known Ranma?"

"I've known that Homura returned the night after the Demon City incident when she came back. However, I didn't know her name or any details on the threat until today."

Serafall narrowed her eyes as she hissed out. "What the heaven Ranma! You mean to tell me that you've known about a genuine threat to all devil kind for almost two and a half weeks and you've done nothing about it! How could you be so irresponsible?"

Ranma held up his hand to cut his mother off. "I got a note from myself explaining why my queen piece had disappeared. In that note I also told myself to act like there was no threat as a plan was in place to handle the threat. If my queen piece hadn't been absorbed a second time due to the time travel I would be completely ignorant of everything."

There was a heated moment as Serafall grabbed Ranma's head and drilled into his eyes with her own. Serafall sighed and released Ranma before she fell to the floor. Serafall put her head in her hands and sobbed. "I'm sorry Ranma. It's just that I've been staring down the possibility of devil extinction for centuries. Homura's arrival means that I failed completely in keeping you and our race safe."

Ranma gave Homura's hand a pat and got her to let go of his hand. He wrapped his arms around his mother. "It's okay Mom. These Incubators were a completely unknown threat until I would have stumbled on their operations. Besides, its' because of your request that I have Homura in my peerage and we got the skillset needed to save ourselves."

* * *

It took almost half an hour to put Serafall back together so she could retreat to her private apartments. Ranma turned his attention back to Homura as soon as Serafall left. His queen was fitfully shaking in her sleep. Ranma extended his wings and lifted himself onto the bed next to Homura. Ranma wrapped his arms around his queen and cloaked her protectively with his wings. Homura grabbed onto Ranma's shirt in her sleep as she calmed down with his presence.

How was he truly supposed to help Homura? The archangels that besieged Homura's mind were of a kind unknown to any devil. Dealing with realistic illusions was something devils were old hats at handling. However, Homura truly experienced everything that tormented her. It was only because of her special abilities that her 'what was' became 'it might be'.

Time travel added another complexity to Homura's issues. She hadn't just experienced all those horrors. They had been relived multiple times in different varieties with the added horror of the failure to stop it before. Psychiatrists would either go mad or earn international honors if they talked to Homura about her issues. All Ranma could do was tread carefully and offer what comfort he could to her.

The witch Kriemhild Gretchen was a tricky issue for Ranma. Keeping Kriemhild Gretchen from emerging was currently critical to saving devilkind and the rest of the world. Ranma was just stuck trying to figure out how to do it. Obviously, the simplest solution would be to kill Madoka. She could never become a magical girl and thus become Kriemhild Gretchen if she was dead. Under most circumstances Madoka and probably her whole family would be dead before dawn. The only questions for Ranma would be whether to do it himself or send some of the clan's assassins after Madoka and what cover story would be put in place.

Saar had trained Ranma on knowing when and how to use assassins. Ranma detested the idea and his grandfather had never been particularly thrilled about the idea either. However, Ranma's position in the clan meant he had to know how to wield power regardless of the situation. There were times when an assassin's blade was quicker and spared more lives than waiting to send an army after a problem.

However, Ranma couldn't give the order or even think about it seriously. Madoka had to survive. Any other option would devastate Homura. That was something Ranma just couldn't do. Bless his human blood, but Ranma couldn't give the order or the information to make someone else give the order out. Madoka was important to Homura and under his queen's protection. That put her under the aegis of the Sitri Clan even if the clan at large didn't know it yet.

Ranma consoled himself with two important facts. One, Madoka was not Kriemhild Gretchen yet and was not even a magical girl at this time. Stop that chain of events and the necessity to stop Kriemhild Gretchen vanished. Two, Homura proved that a magical girl didn't have to become a witch. Ranma could always make Madoka a member of his peerage. Heaven, he could probably convince his mother to reincarnate the girl just by mentioning that she was a magical girl. In the worst case scenario he could probably arrange for Madoka to undergo a magical hibernation until Homura was able to make Madoka part of her peerage.

These ideas satisfied Ranma's pride. They also soothed his supposedly non-existent conscience. Devils didn't like admitting that they had consciences. The very idea of a conscience or any sort of ethics outside the Edicts of the Satans was almost anathema to traditional devil culture. That was because the very first devils didn't have consciences due to the ritual Lucifer and the other original satans used on humanity when they created the devil race. However, every devil in the generations after the first and the ones reincarnated by the evil pieces had a conscience. It was a trace of their human origins.

Saving face thus became an important part of devil society. Every devil was taught to find some sort of rational to justify following their conscience. Weak and even poorly disguised justifications were readily accepted by devil society. Although, the elders of devil's clan were expected to teach a devil known for giving poor excuses more training in how to lie. A society of sociopaths just couldn't function despite the wishes of devil philosophers.

Ranma was weary from finding out about Homura and everything surrounding her. He kept his grip strong on her and faded into sleep.

* * *

Across the palace, Serafall was downing kegs of beer and smashing the empty barrels against the wall. Serafall fell to the ground after her tenth barrel and hiccupped. She vacantly stared up at the ceiling. "I'm a failure." Serafall muttered to herself. "I'm a big fat fucking failure as a mother and a Satan."

What else could Serafall be other than an epic failure? She was the satan in charge of foreign affairs and an unknown supernatural faction would have accidentally caused the extinction of the devil race! Her parents and her sister had died in Homura's future. Ranma had been forced to become the sole de facto satan before his 18th birthday. Knowing her son, Serafall figured that he hadn't taken the title because he didn't see point with so few devils living.

Less than two percent of the current population, that blessed fact kept reverberating in Serafall's brain. How could she hope to wrap her mind around that idea? The thought that in just a couple of years only 1 in 50 devils would still be alive was incomprehensible. Even during the bloodiest decades of the Great War the death tolls only reached 1 in ten devils dying. Heaven, the current fertility crisis of devils was on a multi-century long timespan if the cease-fire continued.

Devils, like most very long lived supernatural races, were typically poor at adapting. Serafall was more adaptive than most devils. However, such a massive change so quickly was unthinkable for her. She could at least intellectually accept that such a situation would have happened in the future that Homura came from. She just could not emotionally begin to comprehend the idea and that was without considering the booze.

Serafall was in such distress that old spell arrays hidden for centuries on her back activated. Seconds later, three transportation arrays appeared around Serafall summoning her three fellow satans. Falbium looked around and muttered, "Troublesome. Why did that old warning beacon summon me here?"

Ajuka spotted the pile of smashed barrels and spoke. "Something put Serafall in extreme and extended emotional trauma. It was a backup I put into the emergency summoning beacons for us during the civil war. That way we could all respond if one of us was extremely hurt, but wasn't about to die seconds later."

Sirzechs nodded his head remembering Ajuka briefing him on the emergency beacons all those years ago. He had insisted on the beacons not being automatically triggered if one of them was about to die. No sense in having all four of them taken out if the Old Satans had some sort of superweapon.

The trio worked to try and find out what had triggered the old emergency beacons. They were poleaxed when they coaxed the truth about Ranma's new queen from the super slushed satan. Sirzechs was at least able to retain enough composure to help walk Serafall over to the restroom so she could make her libations to the porcelain god. Once that was done, Sirzechs carried Serafall to her bedroom and tucked her into her bed. He spotted a particular teddy bear among the others in the display case. He knew that it was one of Serafall's favorites and got it for her to cuddle next to in her sleep.

Ajuka reset the emergency beacons after Serafall had her teddy bear. He then motioned for his buddies to sit down in one of the more distant sitting areas of the suite. Ajuka said, "At least there is one damned soul in the convent. We now know for sure that the beacons work along with their anti-transportation nullification effects."

Falbium slouched in the chair and muttered. "There's no reason for you to be patting yourself on the back Ajuka. Those beacons are centuries old and you're probably on version 20 being tested in your lab."

Sirzechs shook his head and quickly spoke up. "Let's focus on the important issues at the moment. We've just discovered a Revelations-class threat to all devils' existences. A threat class that, might I remind you, hasn't been issued since the Longinus class sacred gears were discovered in development by a defector. Furthermore, that this threat is coming from somewhere we didn't even know existed and would not have known existed until it was too late if not for the current circumstances."

"We know that the Incubators and their witch creations are the threat. When Ranma's queen wakes up we need to debrief her to find out all the weaknesses these Incubators have. We also need to know what the current state of the plan to stop this threat. Along with that, we need to know what modifications to the plan were planned to be made now that we know of the Incubators' existence."

Falbium looked at Sirzechs in shock. "Have you lost your mind Sirzechs? Serafall said that Ranma couldn't have been 18 when he sent his queen back. I repeat he was less than 18 years old. You're telling me that we're supposed to bet our race's entire existence on the plan of someone who should have still been in the children's wing of his clan manor?"

Ajuka turned to his oldest friend and implored, "I must caution against doing more than trying to learn about the Incubators. Ranma is a smart kid with much potential. However, he is still a kid and thus subject to the follies of youth."

Sirzechs smirked and almost laughed at his friends. "Guys, when did I ever say that we were to follow Ranma's plan to deal with the Incubators? We need to know about the Incubators so that we can deal with them. We need to know the plan to deal with the Incubators so we know the current situation better. Please remember, that this plan was created by someone who knows our current foe and probably how they react to multiple different situations."

"As far as I'm concerned, future Ranma's plan is a draft plan for dealing with the Incubators. It might need minor tweaks, major revisions, or it might need to be thrown out entirely. I won't know until I know more about the Incubators and I see what is in the plan."

Sirzechs leaned back in his chair while his buddies found their feet to be fascinating. The Lucifer somberly said, "There are some orders that will need to be issued after the debrief Falbium. All witches and their familiars will have to become kill-on-sight targets in the current bounty system. Just make it clear that it's the Incubator witches and not some magicians. We can't afford another international incident. Serafall will have to reach out to the other known supernatural powers to find out more about the Incubators and see if anyone has any connection to them. The Incubators will become kill-on-sight targets once Serafall has given us the diplomatic clear."

Ajuka looked up and said, "And what about the third part of this mess. What are we to do about the magical girls?"

That was not something any of the trio really wanted to think about. Practically everyone in the Underworld knew that Serafall was a big fan of magical girls. The genre itself was pretty popular among devils and even had some devil produced shows. This easily had the possibility of becoming a public nightmare if it was not handled properly.

Sirzechs closed his eyes and said, "At the moment the magical girls are the unwitting victims of the Incubators. The reincarnation process apparently stops their transformation into witches. Ajuka, I'm going to want you to do a full physical on Ranma's queen to verify this. If I'm correct on this fact, then we have a new selection of potential devils. We can leave the magical girls be if they don't want to be reincarnated. They will eventually transform and then the order regarding witches will go into effect."

* * *

Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in releasing this chapter. Other hobbies ate into my writing time. Also, I was having some trouble working out the pacing of this chapter. I've found in most stories that use time travel from a terrible future that relatively little attention to the circumstances requiring this route. You know things are bad when you can look around and say: "Time travel could have horrible consequences that could drastically alter everything we know. We could potentially erase ourselves from existence. However, the risks are better than what we are dealing with here and now.


	15. Chapter 15

Genma faced off against Soun in a game of shogi. The board was currently in Soun's favor as Soun had switched several key pieces when Kasumi brought in some tea for them. Sadly, Genma hadn't caught Soun in the act and so by Anything Goes Shogi he had to let the cheating go. Things would be better for Genma if he had gotten in some good reacquisitions himself. However, he wasn't able to truly muster up the will to be creative with the shogi board.

Part of Genma wondered what the point was. It wasn't like Soun and he had a bet riding on the outcome of the game. This was just something to pass the time. Who really cared if he won or lost?

Soun frowned as he moved one of his pieces. He could see that his old buddy was in a somber mood. "Genma, what's bothering you? Has something happened with Ranma of Ryu?"

This question startled Genma before he realized what was going on. Genma sighed and replied, "Sorry Soun. I've just been thinking about a new acquaintance of Ranma. She's been stuck in the hospital for extended care for a couple of months and just recently got heathy enough to be released. Ranma is keeping an eye on her as a favor for his mother. Her story is rather depressing and that's just what she was willing to reveal to Ranma's friends when he brought her over."

There was silence for a moment as Soun tried to determine how he felt about that news. It was great to hear about Ranma following his mother's wishes and that he was looking after someone who had been infirmed for so long. At the same time, Soun was also worried about what difficulties this might cause for the Tendo-Saotome pact. There was the faint chance that Ranma could develop feelings for the girl. It was remote given what Soun knew of Ranma. If anything Ranma would probably see her as a friend or maybe a little sister.

The more likely possibility that the girl Ranma was helping might develop feelings for him. Soun knew it was perfectly natural for a young girl to get a crush on an older, strong, and caring gentleman like he knew Genma was raising Ranma to be. It would be a pity that someone who already had been dealt a poor hand would have her heart broken. All Soun could do was pray that the poor girl's heartache didn't last long and that she earned a hearty amount of good karma from these likely events.

Soun might as well have been an open book to Genma who could practically see the thoughts flowing through his friend's head. Part of Genma was annoyed how easily Soun was jumping to different assumptions. Why wasn't Soun stopping to ask for more details? Genma wasn't about to let his friend know about the possible end of the world. He only knew because he was there when Ranma introduced his queen to the rest of the peerage.

However, Genma expected to have to sell his twisting of the truth more to Soun. Everything Genma had told Soun was the truth and even the most invasive truth detection spells could confirm it. He also had background information about Homura to prove he was telling the truth. This should have taken much longer to sort out. If Ranma or Ryu told him something like this he would have had several questions ready to ask. Why wasn't Soun at least asking for Homura's name?

Raising two young devils while being fully aware of the supernatural world had changed Genma more than he realized. His mind had been sharpened by two constant opponents that would cheerfully steal a mile if he let them get away with an inch. Ignorance was no defense in the moonlight world and carelessness cashed an expensive check. Details that Genma had once dismissed as trivial were carefully studied by the martial artist. Patience and a degree of thoughtfulness had been pounded into Genma's head for his own survival.

Soun did not see the harshness hidden in the shadows of the world. Life had generally been good for Soun with the notable exception of his wife dying. Soun continued to live in the moment like Genma and he had done in their younger days. The only thought of tomorrow was the hope that it would be better than today. That hope was a guarantee in Soun's mind with the upcoming Tendo-Saotome union when Ranma came to claim his bride.

Genma could bring Soun into the full knowledge of how the world truly worked. However, he didn't want his old friend to learn about the darkness that would freeze the Master's blood with fear. There were things that Genma wished he never learned about. He also had hints about things he didn't want to find out about. Homura and the tragic future she hailed from was simply the most recent and prominent example. All Genma needed to know was that it was truly horrible and he had no desire to find out more.

The two old friends silently played their game of shogi with Genma wining. All of Soun's cheating couldn't help him when Genma decided to focus on winning the game. Shogi as the "Japanese Chess" was popular in the Sitri Clan. Both Ranma and his aunt could become apprentice shogi players if they had been inclined. Ranma didn't want to take too much time away from training on a game. Sona refused because women shogi players had their own league and she didn't like the idea of being separated like that. They both had several regular contracts to be training opponents for professional shogi players.

Genma had been suckered on several occasions to challenge Ranma or Sona in a game of shogi. He had to get good at the game given their skills and the fact that they rigged the board to burn anyone attempting to cheat. Genma had only beaten Ranma a couple of times and only gotten close to beating Sona. However, that showed a massive leap in his skills.

The duo put the shogi board away and hugged goodbye. Soun smiled and said, "Please come again soon Genma. It's good to see you again."

Genma smiled and replied, "You to Soun. Have a good week."

* * *

Homura was dealing with Mami's binding by waiting for Mami, Madoka, Sayaka, and especially Kyubey to get out of sight. So far the current timeline was progressing acceptably. She had been hoping to keep the higher-ups of the Underworld from being aware of her until Walpurgisnacht was properly handled. However, that had been a remote possibility and the Satans were smart enough to consider the plan of someone familiar with an unknown enemy.

A voice from within Homura's mind spoke to her. "So Homura, how long are you planning on playing possum?"

Homura's eyebrow twitched and she mentally shot back, "Quiet Azazel. Don't you still have Sacred Gears to catalogue for the Armageddon Archive?"

Azazel's spirit pouted as he replied, "How many times must I tell you Homura? You have Artificial Sacred Gear Azazel's Archive of All Items and Records."

Homura said, "Armageddon Archive is quicker to say and sounds better."

"Kids these days, you all want things to go by as fast as possible. As to your earlier comment I'm still trying to sort out how many temporal duplicates you have of different Sacred Gears. Don't get me started on everything else you shoved in here Homura. Did you have to grab as much stuff as you could every single loop since I gave you this Sacred Gear? There is literally a mountain of kitchen sinks taller than Mount Sinai in here!"

"Motto of the Exploiter applies Azazel. Whatever is not nailed down is mine. What I can pry loose is not nailed down." Greed in the form of manageable kleptomania was Homura's primary sin. She had freely stolen what she needed or thought she might need in the time loops as a magical girl. After becoming a devil the only way Homura could clamp down on her greed was to remind herself how it could hurt or look bad on Ranma. Enemies were fair game.

Gaining the Armageddon Archive just made things worse for Homura. Now she could store everything she collected and keep it with her through every jump back in time. A couple of times Homura had taken a 'break cycle' under Ranma's orders and just gone on a stealing spree. Everything that theoretically could be collected from Earth and the Three Factions was in the Archive. Homura had multiple temporal copies of most items in the archive. Azazel had discovered that Homura had the ability to "skip" an item in the Archive back by a second to create a new duplicate for her own use. This was extremely handy for some rare prototype weapons or missiles that were very hard to acquire.

Azazel said, "Times a wasting on saving Mami. Getting her into a peerage will be easier if you save her. Never mind that Madoka might be more willing to become a devil after being tricked by Kyubey if Mami is one."

Homura knew that and got into action. She mentally selected an item from the Archive and chanted, "From the Armageddon Archive I call thee forth!" There was a small blue vortex of Enochian script that appeared behind Homura. A simple Bowie-knife appeared from the vortex and was shot out of it. The knife sliced through the binding that Mami had placed on Homura.

Ranma's queen quickly got to her feet and stretched for a second. She glanced at the knife and said, "To the Armageddon Archive I bid thee return." Another vortex of Enochian script appeared underneath the knife and it sunk into the vortex. Once her knife was secure, Homura froze time and rushed off to Madoka.

Part of Homura wished she could just kill all the Incubators and be done with this heartache. However, she knew the problems that came with radically changing the timeline as she knew it. Homura had to change just enough to achieve her desired goals and no more. Constant time looping, even with the occasional "break" loop, was wearing her down. This had to be the last time loop. She would bring down hellfire to insure it.

Homura reached the central chamber of the witch's labyrinth and surveyed the situation. Madoka and Sayaka were holding each other in terror. The sack of shit otherwise known as Kyubey was looking too cute and way too alive than it had a right to be. Finally, Mami had literally just lost her head. Homura extended her wings and casually flew up to inspect her sometimes comrade and current annoyance.

It didn't take long to confirm that Mami head was severed from her body and that it wasn't an optical illusion. All concerns Homura had vanished once she confirmed that Mami's soul gem was in good condition. She chanted out, "From the Armageddon Archive I call thee forth." A small black box covered in Infernal script appeared out of the vortex.

The box floated in the air as Homura opened it and turned to face Mami. Homura called out, "Yamasenken: Dokuja Tanketsu Sho!" Her hand shot out towards Mami's chest and tore through the ribcage. A second later, Homura pulled her hand back to reveal Mami's heart. The heart was placed in the chest and was quickly accompanied by Mami's soul gem. Homura insured that time in the box was frozen and said, "To the Armageddon Archive I bid thee return."

A magical girl's soul gem was their phylactery and the only thing truly important for survival as their bodies were merely meat puppets. Said meat puppets could be regrown and attached to a soul gem if the original was lost. The trick was growing the replacement bodies fast enough so that the soul in the soul gem didn't give into despair and become a witch. That problem was negated by Homura's powers. Any source of DNA would have sufficed to make Mami's new body. Homura merely chose the source she did because she still had some lingering aggression to sort out. Anyone would be pissed off if their mentor and friend bound them up and started killing their friends to stop everyone from becoming witches.

Homura pulled out one of her bombs and shoved it into the hole in Mami's chest with a time delay set. She then flew back to the entrance and retracted her wings. The time freeze was ended allowing Homura to watch things play out. Seeing the witch immediately devour the rest of Mami before exploding from the bomb didn't faze Homura in the slightest. Witnessing the Armageddon through multiple iterations numbs one to suffering and scenes of violence. Besides, Mami wasn't dead so why should she care?

Sayaka and Madoka gripped each other in terror as they watched Mami die. That terror shot up as a massive explosion ripped out of the witch. A cold hard voice called out to them with no emotion. "Such is the fate of all magical girls." They turned to see Homura behind them walking up with a steady stride and a dispassionate look on her face. "Every magical girl that ever was and ever will be created must one day die at the hands of a witch."

Tears were flowing down Madoka's face and she muttered, "How can that be?" Madoka fell to the ground and muttered, "Why would you say such a thing Homura?"

Homura stopped walking and said, "I say it because it is the truth Madoka. Truth is neither caring, nor loving, or concerned about what you may want something to be. True truth is the summation of facts. Let me tell you some facts regarding magical girl lifespans that you never thought to inquire about. 75 percent of magical girls meet their end before their first month is over. Of the survivors, 80 percent perish before they complete the second month. Casualty rates increase to 99 percent of survivors for each subsequent month. In the history of magical girls, the longest last magical girl lived 13 months and 6 days before her grim collected her."

Sayaka growled as she watched Homura walk over to where the grief seed had fallen. "How can you say things like that Homura! I can't believe that you're telling us the truth." What Sayaka had just seen and heard didn't fit with her view of how things should be. Learning that magic was real was a shocker. However, she knew from the stories what things were supposed to be like for magical girls. Homura did not match any of the stories about magical girls and what she said flew in the face of every manga that Sayaka had read.

"Believe whatever you want to believe. That will not change the fact that in the end you believed a lie instead of the truth." The labyrinth finished breaking down and Homura walked away with the grief seed in hand. Homura knew that the Satans would be pleased to have a fresh grief seed for study.

* * *

Sona stood in the center of a massive Sitri seal wearing a sports bra and yoga shorts. Sweat flowed of her lithe body as she caught her breath. Sona shook her head and called out, "Activate golem wave 4, configure for 5 team assault."

Five pillars of light appeared on the edges of the seal and revealed five golems made out of sapphire colored crystals. Each one was a different size and armed with different weapons. One of the golems caught Sona's eye as it lower right arm was replaced with a scythe like blade. This one was the fastest golem and it rushed her to slash her stomach. Sona fell to the floor as the blade whistled over her. She used her hand to push off the ground and dodge to the side as another golem tried to kick her.

Any martial arts master would have quickly seen the Anything Goes style at the core of Sona's martial arts. However, Sona had taken her martial arts in a very different direction from Ranma and Ryu. Avoidance and redirection were her guiding principles. Martial arts were never intended to be her primary means of attack. Rather, Sona sought to use martial arts to minimize close quarters combat and to set herself up for powerful magical attacks.

This really showed as Sona weaved between the five golems tossing them into each other. Her typical strategy would have been to make a break for the edge and then fire a water spell strong enough to destroy the golems. Sona stopped herself twice from taking advantage of an opening to pull off this play. Her limit for this exercise was to not use any magic.

Part of Sona wished she hadn't imposed that limit on herself. Continuously dodging the various golems' attacks was hard enough. However, she hadn't truly considered how magic depended her attacks were until she was forced to only throw the golems.

Things became tricky for Sona as the golems surrounded her and closed off places for her to dodge. It was only a matter of time before the golems got her. Sona was barely able to move her neck away from scythe golem's slash allowing another golem with claws to rack them across her back. She hadn't realized that the clawed golem was so close while she hissed out in pain.

All five golems dogpiled Sona and attacked her with everything short of lethal force. The seal on the floor glowed red and dissolved the golems. Sona was left on the stone floor in rags, bleeding from the cuts all over her body.

Tears formed in Sona's eyes as she whimpered in despair. "I can't do it. I'm a failure. Why by the Satans hasn't my father stripped me of my titles and chained me to Ranma's bed as a trophy? Lying on my back seems to be the only thing I'm good for in truth. What a joke, Sona Sitri as the 6th Princess of Sitri. Homura's report to Ranma made it clear I was only in charge for days or weeks before he ascended."

Curiosity bless the cat, Sona truly wished she had not been so curious about Ranma's new queen. As Heir to Clan Sitri, Sona had access to all but the very highest security codes in the Sitri Manor. She normally didn't use this access. Her pride normally kept her from spying on the manor residents. However, Homura's sudden arrival and the hornet's nest of activity it seemed to trigger made Sona curious.

Now Sona wished that she didn't know the truth about Homura because that truth held one blessed fact that she couldn't escape from. Sona Sitri was a failure. The only times her future self didn't died making Ranma the Prince of Sitri was when Homura was sent back cutting the loop short. Heaven, there were times in the loops where she had died before her father making Ranma the 6th Prince of Sitri instead of the 7th.

What was the point of a clan head that couldn't defend their clan? Sona had been trying to correct her lack of power and saw how short she truly was. Even using her magic she was barely able to make it to wave 8. Ranma had been working on wave 10 with handicaps when he was 12 years old.

A voice suddenly called out, "Sona?" Sona turned her head and her heart froze with dread as she saw Ranma standing by the doorway. She wanted to bolt, to get up and walk out. It didn't matter what kind of scene her leaving created just as long as it got her out this room with Ranma. However, her body betrayed her desires and Sona couldn't muster the strength to move.

Ranma rushed over to Sona and got on his knees starting to check her over. "What happened Sona?"

Tears burst from Sona as she wailed, "I'm a failure Ranma. I'm nothing more than a failure as clan heir."

"What Sona? Where did this come from? You're talking nonsense Sona." Ranma shifted his inspection to see if Sona was under some kind of illusion.

Sona cuddled closer to Ranma trying to draw comfort into her shaking body. "But I'm not Ranma. I heard about when Homura comes from. I know you sent her back and your rank when you sent her back. Did that you even have time to carve my stone chair before he had to order his own?"

Ranma froze for a second wondering how the heaven Sona knew about the time traveling. He dropped that line of questioning since it wasn't important at the moment. All that mattered was that Sona was hurting both physically and emotionally. The physical problems he was handling. The emotional issues were ones that he was going to have to wing.

"Sona, from Homura's reports everything went to heaven in a dump truck. You and I of that time were dealing with an out of context problem that rapidly grew to Armageddon level problems. That me only had a slight edge because I'm better at thinking on my feet with just part of the picture than you are. Besides, being the last to survive in that situation is like being the last person on the Titanic when it sunk. It doesn't really matter because everyone dies in the end."

Sona weakly grabbed onto Ranma shirt with one trying to grab ahold of his strength and conviction. Ranma stopped the diagnostic spells and held Sona in his arms. He also extended his wings and wrapped them around Sona like a cloak to hide her nude body. Physically, she just had exhaustion along with minor cuts and scrapes. Mentally, something seemed to have broken in her.

She glanced up allowing Ranma to see an utterly shattered look as she softly spoke. "But it does matter Ranma. A version of ourselves were tested and I failed. I failed multiple times."

Ranma snorted and replied, "Yeah, at your weakest subject on a surprise test while my versions were tested on their best subject and they had a cheat sheet thanks to Homura. It's not a fair or even reasonable comparison Sona. Like 90 percent of Clan Head duties is about managing politics. You kick my ass in that area no if ands or buts. 9 Percent of the duties involve resource management which you still have an edge on me. It's a close edge, but I can admit it's still an edge."

"The only role I have you beat is that 1 percent involving personal combat. You don't replace someone whose better 99 percent of the time for someone whose better 1 percent of the time. You metaphorically put that person in a box that says break glass in case of problems. That's why Gramps has trained me to be your fist. I'll win whatever battle or even war you want me to for you. It's up to you to figure out which battles need to be fought and how you'll benefit from the aftermath."

Pressure filled Sona's chest and her mind felt as if it were drowned in unquantifiable emotions. Her very being was torn by confusion. Walls that she didn't even recognize she had were down before Ranma. Every instinct in her body was screaming that she was in a dangerous and vulnerable position that left her completely at Ranma's mercy. Sona's instincts were crying out at her to turn the situation around and make herself the one with all the power.

However, Ranma had shocked her instincts by not taking advantage of the situation. Ranma had rebuilt Sona's walls and somehow made himself a part of them. She could drop her guard around Ranma because he would guard her. It was a realization that was as shocking to Sona as it was liberating for her. Her burden wasn't just hers to handle.

Energy suddenly flowed through Sona that she didn't know she had. Sona grabbed Ranma's shirt, pulled herself up to his face, and passionately captured his lips. Ranma rocked back slightly from surprise and the sudden shift in Sona's weight. However, he was able to steady himself and held onto Sona. The kiss ended after a second and Sona pulled back slightly so she could look Ranma in the eyes.

Sona kept her gaze locked on Ranma as she spoke. "I love you Ranma. You're the one I've been searching for as my future partner. I've known that for a while, I just haven't been able to find the words or courage to say it."

Ranma's form swayed in shock and his grip loosened. Sona loved him romantically? What was he to say to that? When did this all start happening? How was he to respond to that statement? Where were his feelings on this matter? Why were his thoughts so jumbled and confused?

Some women would be hurt if the man they professed to love didn't quickly reply in agreement. Sona was not one of those women. She knew that Ranma had been blindsided by her declaration. Heaven, Sona was shocked that she had announced this to Ranma as she had. Deciding to give him some time, Sona slipped from Ranma's grip and stood before him.

Ignoring her nudity, Sona stood before Ranma with her head held high to pretend at confidence she wished she felt. She spoke evenly as she was trained to do a stressful situation. "You've won the prize that many of your so called equals have desired: the body of high class heiress to do with as you please. My heart and mind also come with the package and I personally think you'll be a little more partial to them."

"I wish I could have you totally as mine Ranma. However, we both need to be realistic about this if whatever is between us is going to work out in the long run. You're too valuable to the clan to remain unmarried and it's currently too detrimental to Clan Sitri's status if the two of us were to marry each other. If you pursue a relationship with me I will have to accept being the "other woman" to whoever father marries you to and any concubines you take for yourself."

"However, the cost isn't just mine to handle Ranma. You won't be able to openly take me out on dates. Unless I can manage to get some law changes performed, you also won't be able to claim any children you father for me in the future. Think about it thoroughly Ranma and then tell me your answer. If you decide you're not interested, come to me to discuss possible concubine contracts for yourself and some of my peerage members. If you are interested, come to my room and take me." With that said Sona walked passed Ranma and headed towards her wing of the mansion.

Sona wondered for a second why she had made the offer of her peerage if Ranma wasn't interested in her. That wonder was squashed when she saw the plan that she had instinctively formulated. Several of her peerage members were interested in Ranma and wouldn't mind becoming his concubines. That would make them happy and put them in a position to influence Ranma towards accepting her as a lover. Sona had centuries ahead of her if Homura and Ranma's plans to end Homura's time loops worked.

It also would work to her advantage even if Ranma wouldn't budge on bedding her. Sona knew that her peerage members wouldn't mind letting her borrow their image to snag a night or two every so often with Ranma. Well not exactly. They would probably be annoyed at letting Sona steal some of their Ranma time, but they'd tolerate it if she did so sparingly.

That was only a worst case scenario for Sona. She had felt Ranma's desire for her underneath his confusion and shock at her sudden declaration. Sona knew how Ranma thought. He'd be confused for a couple of days and would want to focus on stopping the witch disaster from ruining everything. That would give his desire time to grow before he came to her.

A smile appeared on Sona's face as she opened the door to her suite. Ranma now clearly knew her feelings for him. It wasn't how she wanted him to find out, but it wasn't that terrible either. Sona headed to the bathroom and prepared to clean up. Ranma would be hers. It was only a question of time and how much effort she would need to put into the chase.

* * *

Author's note: sorry for the long gap of time to get out this chapter. Things were crazy in real life for a while. Also, I had several changes to how I wanted to introduce devil Homura to Madoka on that side of the story. Right now, Homura has basically been playing things as she did in the tv show and is starting her changes. Yes, Azazel has used himself to make a Gate of Babylon like sacred gear.

Don't get me started on Sona's scene. That scene went through many variations in my head. Several which involved Homura or Tsubaki before I finally settled on Ranma.


	16. Chapter 16

The Sitri Research Facility attached to the hospital was the pinnacle of magical and scientific genetic research. It was here that the secrets of normal and mystical biology were cracked. Other places were better equipped to study other branches of magic or science. However, it was the uncovered secrets of biology in this facility that had driven the Sitri to dominate the medical field in the Underworld. It was a point of pride that in this field, this facility was the leading edge.

Saar Sitri walked down the halls of the facility to the more secured areas. He passed cures for dozens of the most dangerous plagues currently known were kept locked away for the day when a buyer could afford them. They were succeeded by designer diseases and their respective treatments sealed for an emergency. Saar paused for a moment and looked down a hallway that held an extra secure vault containing the anti-devil viruses.

It was an unspoken rule for the most powerful of the Palatini and the Comitatenses Clans to have some sort of card in the massive MAD arrangement that was clan politics. That arrangement kept the Clans from fighting each other all out even when clan vendettas broke out. The Gremory had a spell array that would cause everyone within at least 6000 miles to forget everything about themselves and be unable to ever form a new memory. The Bael had a stockpile of the Power of Destruction that theoretically might qualify as a planet buster.

Details of each clan's MAD card were unknown outside each of Clan's Head. Officially, such things didn't exist and were strictly not talked about. No one besides Saar knew what was in that particular vault. Only he knew how to access it without being killed by the vault's security systems. If things went as they should, the horrors in that vault would be locked away never the see the darkness of night.

Saar froze in fear as he thought of Ranma's queen. Her Armageddon Archive artificial sacred gear was terrifying. Homura had the unknown wealth of an untold number of timelines safely stored away at her command. She had also been thoroughly trained in Genma's yamisenken and umisenken styles along with possessing the ability to freeze time. She had mentioned that she had acquired the former USSR's nuclear stockpile on a lark in one 'cooldown timeline'.

Did Homura have supplies of the anti-devil viruses in the Armageddon Archive? Did she perhaps raid another devil clan's last stand arsenal in a time loop? How was he to question her about this when even Ranma wasn't cleared to know about the vault and Sona only knew about it in generic outlines? Furthermore, what was to stop Homura from swiping the viruses in the future and returning to his present if she didn't know and wanted to expand her archive?

Where did Ranma find his peerage members? Botan was the most 'normal' of the peerage and she had hundreds of connections throughout the Shinto Faction. Ryu had a drive that was put to use making him far more powerful than any single pawn without a sacred gear or special ability his age was. Yusuke had massive potential and a connection to a king of Makai. Ryoga negated all weakness of his rook class and could go anywhere he wanted. Kurama was a master thief. Hiei was an absurdly quick assassin before he became a knight. Homura caped it off appropriately enough as the queen with her unheard of powers over time that were practically bullshit and the ability to store massive amounts of items more suited to a manga than real life.

When Saar told Ranma that he was to be Sona's fist he meant it as her general and champion. At no point was he expecting Ranma to assemble a black ops team from an action movie. Saar was proud that Ranma was able to find such talent and add them to the clan. But, Saar was concerned how the vassal clan heads might interpret Ranma's actions. It had become expected among adults that a devil's peerage and said peerage's abilities reflect on the devil in question's position. Ranma having a more powerful peerage than Sona could be misinterpreted as a challenge against Sona by Ranma. Thankfully, Ranma kept rather quiet about his peerage so that issue hadn't come up yet. It would come up eventually, but hopefully not for a long time.

Saar shook his head and continued walking down the hall. He needed to focus on the present and the unique challenge ahead of him. Saar reached a secure biology lab and entered the security code. His wife Sheli was inside the lab standing by a computer. Sheli glanced at the door and nodded upon seeing Saar. Her gaze then returned to the center of the room past the computer.

Homura was serenely floating naked in a tube with a clear breathing mask on. The liquid in the tube slowly changed intensity and color as various scans were performed. Her eyes turned to look at Saar for a second acknowledging his presence. Then she returned to look at whatever distant goal was in her mind.

These kinds of medical tests were typically performed by one of the scientists employed by the Sitri. However, the current classification of Homura and her history mandated that Saar and Sheli do the testing themselves. Saar pulled up one of the already completed tests and compared its results to the medical files Homura had in her archive. It was interesting and a little creepy to be working with reports he had made in the future multiple times at the same time. Oh the exact time might vary by a few minutes or hours, but those future versions of him had performed this same battery of tests on the same day.

At least the archive recorded the tests in the order of time loops. It enabled Saar to quickly see a pattern in Homura's abilities. Homura improved herself with every loop. She didn't keep her improvements from loop to loop. Rather, her power conditioned herself as if she had done her training from the future in the past. It wasn't much of a difference for Homura since her typical jumps were days or weeks into the past. The difference would show up on longer jumps on the order of months or years. Homura's younger body wouldn't get the results out of hard training for months on end as her body would as it grew during those months of training.

This did lead Saar to question something. Was this self-conditioning a result of Homura's time powers, her previous status as a magical girl, or a fusion of the two? Time manipulation was such an understudied field for practical results despite so many beings attempts to learn. The magical girl possibility could be examined in more detail once Mami's new body was fully grown.

Thoughts of growing Mami a new body made Saar think of the girl's soul gem. As a phylactery is was an amazing piece of technology. It was certainly among the best that the Sitri clan had on record. However, as an energy collector it was a shoddy piece of trash. The despair of a magical girl turning into a witch would release massive quantities of energy. But it was so inefficient and the soul gem/grief seed only captured a fraction of the energy. As for the collection method, that was rather stupid idea in his opinion. The Incubators' method was like starting a forest fire to make charcoal.

It would have been more efficient to have the magical girls need to 'recharge' their soul gems with a transmitter and focus on a long term harvest. Creating familiar 'witches' for the girls to hunt would have been relatively energy cheap. Such a process would require more effort on the Incubator's part, but after a week or two they would have been making bank with emotional energy. Saar wanted to kill the Incubator who created such an inefficient system.

* * *

At the same time in a witch's labyrinth, Yusuke also wanted to kill the Incubator who thought up witches. Running along a clothesline while ice skates rained down on him was not something he ever wanted to do. Ranma was running along on a nearby clothesline expertly dodging the incoming attacks. How his king was able to dodge so effortlessly was something Yusuke couldn't figure out and desperately wished to know. Heaven, he would have been sliced up like a Christmas ham if the old hag's training hadn't given him the able to deflect most of the attacks.

Ranma glanced over at Yusuke and assessed his rook's condition. This labyrinth's particular distortions made it a wonderful training ground. One had to balance on the clotheslines or a supernatural would suffer great pain. Most humans would probably be killed by the labyrinth if they fell. The falling ice skates apparently had a teleporter that sent them back up to the witch so she could throw them again. Ranma knew this by discreetly tagging several different ice skates. Best of all, the clotheslines were the perfect treadmill keeping everyone's relative positions the same no matter how fast or slow they moved.

Part of Ranma wondered if he could rip this labyrinth out of the human world and have it transported back to the Sitri Manor. Ajuka would probably be interested in studying a complete labyrinth in person and gramps could charge the Satan for access. That thought was ruthlessly crushed when Ranma remembered who was behind the witches and how little they knew about the Incubators. Heaven, who was to say that those mascot rejects couldn't hijack a labyrinth or use them as teleporters? Ranma would be singing hymns before he'd actually allow such a risk to compromise clan security.

Now was the time to stop joking around while training his peerage and get the job done. Ranma tapped his ear activating the communication spell and said, "Clear the air Botan."

"Roger that Ranma. Hit the deck on my call, three, two, one, Shotgun!" Ranma and Yusuke dropped to the ground as a wave of blue energy shots came rushing up from behind them. The shots missed the boys by centimeters as they slammed into the ice skates. Ranma quietly used his magic to shield himself from the debris of the ice skates. Yusuke didn't think of that and received several dozen scrapes from the shrapnel.

Down the clothesline, Botan was kneeling and holding her old oar like it was a rifle. The tip of the handle was glowing from energy her promoted bishop powers had channeled into it. She was wearing the same outfit she had been wearing just before the mess with Demon City occurred with the addition of protective tinted eyeglasses. Botan quickly scanned the ceiling and said, "All incoming projectiles neutralized Ranma."

Ranma nodded his head as he stood up and said, "Good work Botan. You may now disengage your promotion if you wish." Promotion was an extremely useful tool in a peerage when dealing with real combat situations. It allowed a trained fighter to gain a massive boost in abilities relevant to their skillset when used properly. But like most things in life, Ranma's generation had mostly wasted this ability's real world applications in favor of the Rating Game. Almost every young devil Ranma knew except for a handful saw pawns as meat shields or additional queens if they survived.

Queens were the worst possible choice for promotion in a real battle. A queen had roughly 80 percent of the strength, speed, and magical power boost that the rook, knight, and bishop gave in their respective areas. However, the stamina cost for a queen promotion was three times the cost for a rook, knight, or bishop. This wasn't much of a problem in Rating Games where a pawn typically had a minute or two after promoting before the game ended. It was a major problem in real combat where fatigue could be a death sentence.

Then there was fact that queens typically weren't worth the cost of boosting all their stats. What good was increased physical strength to a devil that fought only at range with magic? Massive magical reserves weren't that useful focused on close combat technique. The problems got even worse when a pawn promoted themselves to a queen since they weren't used to the stat boost. Satan Falbium's Recollections of Devil Warfare berated the idea of a queen promotion under most circumstances. Not that many people in Ranma's generation knew that since most young devils had never read or even heard of Recollections of Devil Warfare. This wasn't too surprising since the book's unofficial title was 'Why approaching combat like it's a Rating Game makes you a Dumbass'.

Ranma had read Recollections of Devil Warfare and had incorporated its lessons where he could. Most importantly, he had trained Ryu and Botan in the Falbium Pawn Doctrine. That doctrine held that you train a pawn to only promote to one of the non-queen trio. This meant that the pawn was more comfortable and skilled in their promoted form. It also eased the stress of promotion on the pawn's body allowing them to hold the promotion longer.

Botan found the bishop more to her style because it empowered her energy reserves. She canceled the promotion and looked at her watch. Botan called out to Ranma, "Bishop promotion has been canceled. Time in promotion is 8 minutes 36 seconds."

"How much longer do you judge that you could maintain your promotion?"

"I'm not too sure Ranma. If I had to save enough energy to fire that shot maybe another minute or two. If I was just maintaining the promotion, then maybe an additional minute or two on top of the previous time. I'm not used to judging this when my energy is being slowly drained."

Yusuke butted in yelling, "What the heaven Ranma? Is this all some sort of training to you?"

Ranma turned to look at his rook and replied, "You know one of the core rules of Anything Goes. If something can be made into training then you make it into training. Why do you think we've been running in place for the past 6 minutes?" Ranma pointed behind the duo to Botan who was about 200 meters away. Botan lowered her oar and waved at the boys.

Yusuke fell over in shock and was grabbed by Ranma. Once Yusuke was on his clothesline again he said, "Do you mind if I shoot that witch?"

Ranma smirked, "Go right ahead Yusuke."

"Thank you," Yusuke turned to look at the witch who was futilely kicking her legs in the air. Yusuke held out his hand and channeled all his frustration and embarrassment into his attack yelling out, "Devil Gun!" A beam of dark blue energy shot out from Yusuke's finger and hit the witch right between the legs. The shot caused a massive explosion and ripped the witch into pieces. Seconds later, the labyrinth dissipated leaving the trio in an alleyway.

Ranma walked over the grief seed and picked it up. Part of Ranma wondered what information about the witch who created the grief seed remained in the seed. Who knows, the information to recreate a witch's labyrinth might be stored in the seed. That would be a nice little prize.

Yusuke glared at Ranma and muttered, "Come on Ranma. Do you have to remind me sometimes that you're literally the spawn of Satan?"

Botan walked up and said, "That would be a satan Yusuke, not the Satan. Besides, you know Ranma wants to train if it doesn't cause any major problems."

"Yeah well, I like to keep my training and my fighting separate. And speaking of fighting, I don't like finding out that my battles are on stupid treadmills!"

Ranma interjected at that point. "Okay, there's no need to fight amongst ourselves. You two go complete one contract each and you can have the rest of the night to yourselves. I'm going to check in with Ryu to see how the others are doing with their target."

* * *

Homura silently snuck into Madoka's room under the umisenken. Madoka appeared to be fitfully sleeping as her bed was a complete mess. Bless it Sayaka, Homura thought as she looked at Madoka struggle from a nightmare. Why did that silly girl have to make that contract with Kyubi? Now Madoka was worried about her friend's safety and considering if it might be better to take Kyubi's dark offer.

It twisted Homura's heart to see Madoka so distressed. It was hard enough on Homura to see Madoka suffer because Mami had 'died'. Seeing Madoka like this made it almost impossible for Homura to keep her emotional mask up. For a moment, Homura even thought about waking her dear friend up to let her know that Mami was still alive.

Such news would shock Madoka and reveal some secrets Homura didn't want Madoka to know right now. However, it would ease some of the suffering Madoka was undergoing. The problem with that was that it might reveal some things to Kyubi that shouldn't be revealed just yet. Kriemhild Gretchen had to be prevented from forming by successfully stopping Walpurgisnacht without Madoka's involvement. Once that was done and the Satans gave the green light then Homura could move on to the solution to the Incubator problem. That solution was the complete and utter extermination of their race.

It wasn't just because the name sounded good that Homura dubbed her artificial sacred gear the Armageddon Archive. She had looted dozens of supernatural factions' armories and she had been gifted with hundreds more. As long as Homura swore never to use the weapons against their original faction, most people in the doomed timelines happily gave over their world ending ammunitions for vengeance. Those weapons had been tested to on several timelines and most could work as advertised. The rest did the job well enough to not really make a difference.

Such sweet thoughts of vengeance would have to wait for now. Homura quietly cast a spell on Madoka putting her into a dreamless slumber. She then tucked her friend back under the covers properly and smiled. The surprisingly angelic face of Madoka was something Homura wanted to protect while she could.

Homura was under no illusions that Madoka could keep being a regular girl much longer. Her devil senses told her that Madoka had far more magical potential then most humans normally could have. That when combined with Madoka's prolonged experiences with supernatural events meant that she was now a permanent member of the Moonlight World. To pretend otherwise would lead to Madoka falling victim to one of the darker, in the moral sense, elements of the world.

As long as Madoka stayed her friend, Homura didn't care how Madoka was connected to the Moonlight World. She could become a regular client or maybe even a contract magician. Homura would be delighted if Madoka asked to contract with her. Maybe she might become Ranma's contract magician. Madoka's sheer potential and power would offset her lack of clout in magician society.

Part of Homura wanted Madoka to become a devil like her. However, there was something fundamentally wrong with the concept of Madoka as a devil. It was as if some fundamental quality that made Madoka who she was would be lost by such a change. That was something Homura couldn't tolerate.

Homura gently patted Madoka's head and whispered, "Sleep tight Madoka. Soon you'll be able to know everything." With that said Homura reengaged the umisenken and snuck out of Madoka room.

* * *

Saar led Ranma and Sona to one of the lower security biolabs in the Sitri Research Facility. He turned to face his heirs and said, "We are going to be trying an experiment to attach an active phylactery to a cloned copy of the soul's original body. Such a procedure has never been done before. If you recall, souls in an active phylactery gain corporal form by either controlling their corpse, possessing a living being, or being embedded into a golem."

Sona spoke up. "This procedure sounds like it should have a very high probably of success; provided the soul in the phylactery is in good condition. The other major variable I can see without an in depth study is soul of the cloned body."

"That has been factored in Sona." Saar said with pride in his voice. "The clone was prevented from forming a soul during the growth process."

"Wait a minute!" Ranma blurted out in shock. "How can that be? Use of mystic abilities, such as would be required to make a phylactery, introduces a layer of complexity into an organism that necessitates a soul of some sort to maintain that organism. Regular humans are the limit of what can be cloned without a soul being necessary and even then you're limited to small parts. That's why magicians never contact us for replacement organs. In order to create an organ that their body will accept requires a soul which their own soul will reject. The same thing applies to devils and all other supernatural beings."

Soul rejection was a massive problem for supernatural beings. Organ donation fundamentally did not work for them. The only way for a devil to replace a damaged liver for example would be by being kept alive by outside assistance until they could be magically induced to regrow their own liver. Such a procedure was horrendously expensive in terms of financial, magical, and time costs.

Saar smirked and replied, "Normally you'd be correct Ranma. However, notes provided by your queen on soul gems used by magical girls and some examinations of our own have suggested a way around that problem. Magical girl soul gems have an unprecedented range for controlling a body through a phylactery. We are amplifying that range and focusing it into the clone allowing the soul gem to act like a soul for the clone body. So far things have progressed in an acceptable manner."

A press of a hidden remote caused the tube in the corner to light up. Sona and Ranma turned look at it and saw a floating Mami looking very pale and emaciated. Saar led the duo over to the tank and said, "The cloned body is acceptable; especially for an experimental procedure like this. As you can see, the subject will need some physical therapy to restore her to prime condition after the procedure. Exactly how much will depend on how successful the attachment of the phylactery is and how much the soul gem's restorative abilities link up with the cloned body."

"I'm telling you two this because there is about a 20 percent chance this operation will fail and require the use of an Evil Piece resurrection to successfully revive the subject. The scientific value of the information from the procedure will be immense success or failure. A success would provide us with more information and the opportunities for long term study."

Sona spoke up, "You want Ranma or I to make the magical girl our servant if the procedure starts to fail."

Saar answered without missing a beat. "It would be a shame to waste a good opportunity for a new servant. Judging from the age of her soul gem, the subject is a fairly accomplished fighter. I would also prefer it if one of you were to convince the subject to become a member of your peerage even if the procedure is a complete success. It would simplify matters on what to do with the test subject afterwards in a much more productive manner."

If this procedure worked like Saar thought it should this would open up a whole new world of supernatural medicine. However, it would leave him with a revived magical girl who could turn into a witch and who most likely didn't have much to her name. Simply disposing of her after the tests were complete was the quickest way to handle the issue. It was also the least satisfying. The mere idea of undoing a groundbreaking medical achievement that he had performed bristled at Saar's pride. It also carried the risk of any detractors saying that the procedure didn't have lasting results.

Sona turned to Ranma and said, "I think you should be the one on standby to revive the subject Ranma."

Ranma turned to Sona and asked, "Why is that Sona?" It didn't make any sense to Ranma why Sona was giving him another member for his peerage. Even he knew that some of Sona's political enemies within the vassal clans were talking about the rapid expansion of his peerage. Details about their abilities were currently kept quiet, but Ranma knew that wouldn't last for much longer. Wouldn't some of her enemies be quieted down by her adding a skilled fighter?

Crisply Sona replied, "You have more experience than I do in handling a new peerage member that has been unknowingly resurrected. Of the two of us, you have more experience integrating a previously unknown element into your peerage's teamwork. I would also be remiss in my responsibilities to Clan Sitri if I knowingly prevented you from fulfilling a promise you made to not only a Satan, but the Satan to whom Clan Sitri is the sworn servant."

There was no way under Satan's burning hell that Sona would ever add a magical girl to her peerage. The temptation for her sister to pop up to surprise her would increase exponentially if Serafall knew she had a real magical girl. Worse, she would redouble her efforts to make Sona a magical girl aficionado as well. It was a hassle Sona would gladly do without.

Having Ranma adding yet another fighter to his peerage would be a political annoyance at this stage for Sona. Devils were starting to pick up on the fact that something had gotten the Satans' concerned. But, that was an annoyance that Sona could mitigate. Her "weakening" herself in order to insure a clan member fulfilled a promise to Clan Sitri's overlord could be very useful politically. Sona could spin it to show that she considered Clan Sitri's needs and ambitions as a whole to be her own needs and ambitions. That meant that Clan Sitri's vassals' needs and ambitions were hers as well.

Ranma nodded his head in acceptance. Saar then spoke up, "now that is decided let us move on to testing the procedure." Saar moved to a control panel and started typing in commands. Several displays appeared in front of the trio allowing Ranma and Sona to see what Saar was doing.

Saar began reading off different metrics to himself like he always did during an important experiment. "Clone organic structure is stable. Soul Gem stability maintained at 99.769 percent plus or minus 0.028 percent. Spiritual meta-stability of soul lattice confirmed. Psyche matrix state is currently dormant. All hardware for connection procedure verifies in the green. It's time for the operation to begin."

Eldritch energy started to course through the tube containing Mami's new body. The energy caused the tube's liquids to bubble and glow green. Saar rechecked everything and pronounced, "Initial spiritual connection confirmed. Soul lattice is maintaining cohesion. We are no beginning lower order soul synchronization."

Sweat started to form on the back of Saar's neck as he looked for any sign of a potential problem. The connection of the subconscious and instinctive functions was the trickiest part of giving souls in an active phylactery corporal form. There were too many variables involving the soul in question and the conditions of the phylactery. Saar had far more data on the soul gem than any magician he ever knew of had on a phylactery when trying to give the soul corporal form. The problem was that this wasn't a very practiced or documented art. More often than not, the maker of a phylactery was someone who the world would be better off with them gone. How could he know which variables were moving naturally and which were signaling a disaster?

Saar let out a sigh of relief when synchronization reached 100 percent and he was able to take the clone body off of life support. Stress on the clone body was within acceptable parameters. Now it was time for the relatively easy part of synchronizing the conscious mind. Saar and his heirs eagerly watched as the synchronization percentage increased.

"You did it father," Sona whispered in amazement as the synchronization number hit 100 percent. "You've successfully clone a supernatural being and insured it has only the original's soul."

The prince nodded his head and then snapped his fingers causing the glass of the tube to vanish. Mami dropped to the floor only to be caught by Ranma before she could land. Ranma put two fingers to Mami's neck and leaned his ear closer. He called out, "She's got a pulse and breathing."

Saar nodded his head as he hurried to Mami's side with Sona hot on his heels. He performed a quick scan of Mami confirming that she was in stable condition. The prince then reached over and cut the umbilical cord that was attached to the girl.

Mami stirred and mumbled, "What? What's going on?"

Ranma leaned closer to Mami and whispered. "Rest now Mami. Everything will be fine."

Author's Notes: sorry for the delay, other hobbies claimed more of my time than I expected. The witch that Ranma, Yusuke, and Botan faced off against is a canon witch who appears in one of Homura's flashbacks. For those of you readers who might be offended by Saar's (OC) thoughts on Mami please remember some very important facts. Saar is a DEVIL who was raised under the ORIGINAL LUCIFER's rule and that he was Clan leader during the Great War and the Devil Civil War. Fundamentally, Saar and all the devils of his time are not good people. That's not to say that they are evil for evil's sake.

I've mainly shown Saar as a loving father/grandfather whose worried about his descendants future because that is the part of him that Ranma and Sona have interacted with in the story. Saar cares about his family, his clan, and his friends. Mami is not any of the three. He's given her a new body just to test out a theory he had and maybe get a new recruit for the clan. If Mami joins then Saar will start caring about her. Until then Mami survival in Saar's mind is tied to the answer of whether he gets more out of Mami being alive or her being dead. Saar wants Mami alive because her being alive proves his plans work and he might get something more out of the investment. He does not want her to be alive simply out of a moral imperative.


End file.
